Fairfax boys basketball team rallies around memory of Isia Slater

LAVEEN - Fairfax High School boys basketball head coach Josh Wray put his phone on vibrate on the night of Oct. 14, an unusual move for him.


Educators optimistic after seeing final federal rules on school success

WASHINGTON - State officials welcomed final regulations for the federal school policy that will replace the troubled No Child Left Behind program, which give states more flexibility to determine school success and which schools are falling behind.

Grading Schools

Arizona 16-year-old lands perfect ACT score

GILBERT — A 16-year-old Arizona girl earned a perfect composite score on the ACT college admissions test, such a rarity only one-tenth of one percent of students in the nation have achieved it.


Award-winning football player overcomes cystic fibrosis to find success on and off field

PHOENIX – Balancing academics and athletics is a delicate juggling act, but Phoenix College wide receiver and former Joy Christian School quarterback Matthew Mitchell excelled at both - while also dealing with an inhibiting disease.


Arizona officials unlikely to push statewide corporal punishment ban

WASHINGTON - Arizona is one of 15 states that expressly allow corporal punishment in schools, but state educators said most schools already heed the spirit of U.S. Education Secretary John King's call for an end to the practice.

Corporal Punishment

Rural high schools confront low college completion rates

Cassidy Hancock drives 20 miles each way, Monday through Friday, to attend Tombstone High School, where she is currently a senior. Hancock is taking nursing classes through the school and volunteers at Quiburi Mission Samaritan Center, a nursing home in Benson.


Four Arizona schools honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2016

WASHINGTON - It was exciting for Arizona educator Kristi Pashley to be in the nation's capital on Election Day - but not for the reasons you might think.


Head Start makeover offers opportunities, challenges to program’s backers

WASHINGTON - Head Start "has done a lot of good in the past 50 years," but the first early education program in the U.S. is due for a change, said Jonathon Gonzales, executive director of the Arizona Head Start Association.

Head Start

Fighting to regulate full-day kindergarten in Arizona

PHOENIX – Marissa Chavez’s kindergarten students often play teacher, taking turns pointing to an alphabet card while the other students sit cross-legged on the floor.