7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
La Sala C Foyer, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Welcome Remarks

• Mr. Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, NALEO Educational Fund

• Ms. Barbara Ryan Thompson, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Helios Education Foundation

• Hon. Pauline Medrano, Treasurer, Dallas County; NALEO President

• Dr. Todd Sandrin, Vice Provost, Arizona State University West Campus; Dean, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

• Mr. Edmundo Hidalgo, Vice President of Outreach Partnerships, Arizona State University

9:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session I:

State of Latino Education in Arizona: An Overview of Student Academic Gains and Opportunities

As policymakers pursue state and local policies, they must understand how to navigate the various data sources available to them that highlight the educational attainment of students across the educational pipeline in the state and their local communities. Latino students represent the majority of Arizona’s K-12 student population. It is critical that education policymakers become well versed on the achievement gains made by Latino students and identify where achievement gaps persist in the educational pipeline to develop policies and initiatives to address the gaps. Participants received an overview of Latino student academic achievements and needs and learned about best practices in communities that are successfully closing the academic gaps.

Session Chair: Hon. Sarah Benatar, Treasurer, Coconino County; Board Member, NALEO

• Ms. Marilee Dal Pra, Chief Executive Officer, First Things First
PRESENTATION | Resource: 1

• Mr. Joseph Garcia, Director, Morrison Institute Latino Public Policy Center, Arizona State University
PRESENTATION

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session II:

Overview of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Implementation of the Arizona State Accountability Plan

ESSA is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the federal education law that provides requirements for our K-12 public education system, and replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB). A primary aspect of ESSA, is the shift in responsibility for policy implementation from the federal government to individual states. In 2017, all states were required to submit a State Accountability Plan to the U.S. Department of Education for approval. The Arizona Department of Education’s State Accountability Plan was approved in Fall 2017 and is to be fully implemented in the 2018-2019 school year. To optimize the opportunities found within ESSA and support students academically, local and district policymakers will need to collaborate with the Arizona Department of Education to drive local innovation. This session provided an overview of ESSA and the Arizona State Accountability Plan. Participants learned more about the education law changes and the opportunity in these changes to benefit the students they represent.

Session Chair: Hon. Elizabeth “Liz” Archuleta, Supervisor, Coconino County; Treasurer, NALEO

• Ms. Liz King, Senior Policy Analyst and Director of Education Policy, The Leadership Conference Education Fund
PRESENTATION | Resources: 1 | 2

• Ms. Kaitlin Pennington, Senior Analyst, Bellwether Education Partners
PRESENTATION

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Luncheon Program

Census 2020 – Make It Count!

Session Chair: Hon. Tadeo De La Hoya, Board Member, Gadsden Elementary School; Board Member, NALEO

• Mr. Arturo Vargas, Executive Director, NALEO Educational Fund
PRESENTATION

Additional Resources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session III:

Overview of the Updated Arizona A-F School Accountability System

Under NCLB, the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) accountability system was the framework that states utilized to determine how school districts and individual schools in the country performed academically. Under ESSA, AYP has been eliminated and now states are required to create and implement their own state accountability systems. In Arizona, the State Legislature has required the measurement of schools and student performance to be done via an A-F letter grade system. In the Spring of 2017, the Arizona State Board of Education updated the State’s A-F School Accountability System. The new accountability system relies on multiple measures to determine school academic performance, which requires that local policymakers increase their reliance on data for policy making decisions. This session provided participants with an overview of how the A-F School Accountability System will be integrated into ESSA implementation and allowed participants to discuss how to leverage the various data points found within this updated state accountability system for improved policy decision making at the local level.

• Dr. Joe O’Reilly, Director, Decision Center for Educational Excellence, Arizona State University
PRESENTATION

3:00 p.m – 3:15 p.m.

Break

3:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session IV:

Leveraging the Arizona Education Progress Meter in the ESSA State Accountability Plan

Prior to the passage of ESSA, Expect More Arizona and the Center for the Future of Arizona, in collaboration with the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, began to work on a shared vision of education for Arizona. This vision resulted in the Arizona Education Progress Meter which was launched in February 2016. This Progress Meter aims to establish long-term academic goals that increase the educational attainment of students in public schools across the educational pipeline. Given that ESSA requires academic indicators be included within the State Accountability Plan, Arizona has linked the Education Progress Meter for the state’s long-term academic goals and measures of interim progress to ESSA. This session provided policymakers with an overview of the Education Progress Meter and participants explored strategies to support and monitor the academic goals for public schools and students at the local level.

• Ms. Erin Hart, Chief Operating Officer, Expect More Arizona
PRESENTATION | Resources: 1 | 2 | 3

• Dr. Lupita Hightower, President, Arizona Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (AZALAS); Superintendent, Tolleson Elementary School District
PRESENTATION

4:45 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.

Evaluations

4:55 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Closing Remarks

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Opening Reception

Terrace Ballroom, DoubleTree by Hilton Phoenix North
10220 North Metro Pkwy East, Phoenix, AZ 85051

Hosts:
Helios Education Foundation
State Farm®
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
La Sala C Foyer, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session V:

Show Me the Money: Per Pupil-Per School Reporting

Under ESSA, states and public schools will see a change in their education finance reporting to the U.S. Department of Education for the 2018-2019 school year. ESSA will require that school funding be monitored and reported per pupil-per school, while previous federal laws have only required reporting to be done district-wide. This new school finance reporting system will provide policymakers with improved information during the budget process to better target the needs of individual students. This session included an overview of the new ESSA school funding reporting procedures and ways policymakers can prepare for these policy changes to address the educational needs of students through the new per pupil-per school requirement.

• Ms. Katie Hagan, Research Associate, Edunomics Lab, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
PRESENTATION | Resource: 1

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session VI:

Opportunities for English Language Learners in ESSA

Under ESSA, states will continue to be required to monitor how well English Language Learners (ELLs) attain language fluency and academic gains in various subject areas. However, under ESSA there have been changes in two of the titles. Title III, the title that used to focus on the allocation of funds, reporting and accountability for ELLs has now had the accountability of their language attainment moved to Title I. This session provided participants with an overview of ESSA as it pertains to Title III and Title I and focused on the academic needs for ELL students.

Session Chair: Hon. Martín Quezada, President, Arizona Latino School Board Association; Arizona State Senator; President, Pendergast Elementary School District

• Dr. Beatriz Arias, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Applied Linguistics
PRESENTATION

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Networking Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session VII:

Legislative Update: Arizona Education Policy

Education in Arizona is a leading issue in the 2018 Legislative Session and will continue to be a top policy in Arizona’s 2018 election. This session provided an update on the various ballot measures for voters and legislative proposals in the legislature that address education funding for the K-12 public school system. Participants also received an update on proposals in front of the legislature to address the Structured English Immersion model for ELLs; a model in the state that has focused on having ELL students receive English instruction within a four-hour time block that is typically separate from their student peers.

Session Chair: Hon. Diego Espinoza, Co-Chair, Latino Legislative Caucus; Arizona State Representative

• Mr. Vince Yanez, Senior Vice President, Arizona Community Engagement, Helios Education Foundation

• Ms. Marisol Garcia, Vice President, Arizona Education Association

2:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Break

2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building, ASU West Campus

Session VIII

Discussing the Future of Arizona Education

Addressing the current and future educational needs of Arizona students will require that education stakeholders and policymakers collaborate now more than ever. This session provided participants with an opportunity to engage in a discussion to identify policy areas or initiatives they can support, create, and implement in their communities moving forward.

• Ms. Kathy Leslie, President, Leslie Consulting and Associates
PRESENTATION | Resource: 1 | 2

4:00 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.

Evaluations

4:10 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
La Sala C, University Center Building

Closing Remarks