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An Analysis of Income’s Role in the Arizona Public School Tax Credit

Description
Over the years from 2009 to 2017, the people of Arizona witnessed the state consistently defunding the schools, its students academically underperforming, and as a result, the poverty achievement gap widening. Even with the efforts in recent years to re-invest in education, Arizona’s education funding falls below its level at…

Over the years from 2009 to 2017, the people of Arizona witnessed the state consistently defunding the schools, its students academically underperforming, and as a result, the poverty achievement gap widening. Even with the efforts in recent years to re-invest in education, Arizona’s education funding falls below its level at 2008 and the national average. Among Arizona’s funding sources is the Public School Tax Credit, a unique legislation for the state that allows for taxpayers to donate money to certain programs at Arizona public schools and reduce their state income tax liability dollar-for-dollar. Because of the already severe achievement gap in Arizona, this funding source which relies on surrounding neighborhoods’ income raises the concern that, instead of helping Arizona students, it is exacerbating the existing achievement gap. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between income and donations received by schools to determine the validity of this concern. To ensure a comprehensive examination of the relationship between income and donations received, regression tests are run on both the aggregate level and individual level. The tests find that, although income does have a statistically significant correlation with the donations received, it is only positive for the effect of total income on total donations, negative for the effect of average income per return on average donation per donor, and negative for average income per return on total donations. The results imply that to garner high donations, it matters less to be located in a high-earning neighborhood and more important to be located in a moderate-earning neighborhood with a lot of people donating using this credit. Therefore, the concern of income’s effect on donations is valid, but perhaps not in the straightforward way that we would expect.
ContributorsChen, Vivian Young (Author) / Kenchington, David (Thesis director) / Brown, Jenny (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12

PeerSquared: The Path to Building Effective K-12 Peer Tutoring Programs

Description
The state of Arizona has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country.
Therefore, many different resources and intervention programs are designed to help prevent
at-risk students from dropping out and making sure they graduate on time - typically within four
years. However, one extremely underutilized but highly effective resource…

The state of Arizona has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country.
Therefore, many different resources and intervention programs are designed to help prevent
at-risk students from dropping out and making sure they graduate on time - typically within four
years. However, one extremely underutilized but highly effective resource for intervention is
peer tutoring. Peer tutoring is a well-known method of active learning within the classroom
where students assist one another, but it is rarely used systematically as a way to support at-risk
students with the goal of increasing academic performance to decrease the number of dropouts.
This thesis and creative project takes a look at the inception, development, and growth of
PeerSquared, Inc., a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, founded by chief executive officer,
Michael Wang, on his journey to help Arizona high schools build and scale sustainable and
systematically-integrated, 1-on-1, peer-to-peer tutoring programs. This paper will account
Michael’s motivation for this mission and the growth of PeerSquared from its inception in
November 2018 up to August 2020. For context, the COVID-19 pandemic began noticeably
impacting Arizona in late-March 2020 when schools decided to not resume in-person school in
favor of distance learning resulting in a necessary pivot for PeerSquared.
ContributorsWang, Michael Minze (Author) / Lin, Elva S. Y. (Thesis director) / Barnard, Wendy (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12

The Implications of Intersectionality on the Education of Hispanic Females in Arizona

Description

The education that a student receives in the United States is influenced by an array of factors. One of the main influential factors is the financial resources a school has access to. Additionally, identities such as race, class, and gender all substantially impact the level of education a student has…

The education that a student receives in the United States is influenced by an array of factors. One of the main influential factors is the financial resources a school has access to. Additionally, identities such as race, class, and gender all substantially impact the level of education a student has access to. Often students in minority groups, such as Hispanic students, experience additional challenging educational experiences than others. This is due to the intersectionality of their identities impacting their education. Within the Hispanic population, the unique educational experiences of Hispanic females are often disregarded. This paper analyzes the implications of intersectionality on the education of Hispanic females in Arizona. In order to examine this, a qualitative research study involving interviews with Hispanic female college students was done. Interviews consisted of questioning the participants about their K-12 educational experiences in Arizona’s education system, the school factors impacting their education, the familial factors impacting their education, and their college experiences. Key findings show that the educational experiences of Hispanic female students in Arizona are impacted by (a) familial support, (b) the role of Hispanic values/traditional gender roles, (c) a lack of financial resources, (d) an underrepresentation of Hispanic culture, (e) and inadequate college readiness resources. The findings of the study show that the intersectionality of gender and race/ethnicity creates additional disadvantages for the education of Hispanic female students. Furthermore, the results emphasize the need to take intersectionality into account when examining the educational differences that exist in the education system.
ContributorsReyes, Valeria (Author) / Kappes, Janelle (Thesis director) / Bondy, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2023-05