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- All Subjects: Arizona
- Creators: Economics Program in CLAS
Education has been at the forefront of many issues in Arizona over the past several years with concerns over lack of funding sparking the Red for Ed movement. However, despite the push for educational change, there remain many barriers to education including a lack of visibility for how Arizona schools are performing at a legislative district level. While there are sources of information released at a school district level, many of these are limited and can become obscure to legislators when such school districts lie on the boundary between 2 different legislative districts. Moreover, much of this information is in the form of raw spreadsheets and is often fragmented between government websites and educational organizations. As such, a visualization dashboard that clearly identifies schools and their relative performance within each legislative district would be an extremely valuable tool to legislative bodies and the Arizona public. Although this dashboard and research are rough drafts of a larger concept, they would ideally increase transparency regarding public information about these districts and allow legislators to utilize the dashboard as a tool for greater understanding and more effective policymaking.
Education is known for being powerful in reducing poverty, improving health, promoting healthier economies, and providing peaceful and productive opportunities for young people worldwide. It’s a key to success that has been threatened in the state of Arizona through low funding, teacher shortages, and a lack of resources. Inadequate learning environments further educational inequalities and hinder academic achievement among students. In finding a solution, the objectives of education policy in Arizona are analyzed from an economic and equity standpoint.