Tom Horne has a record of success in education.

Tom Horne’s priority is to get the focus back on academics and avoid distractions.  Teachers on academics and avoid distractions. Teachers should be able to teach their subjects bell to bell and not be distracted.  Our philosophy is that every instructional minute counts.

We have 15 initiatives to help schools work in this direction, as follows:

1. Improvement teams.

We are a service organization dedicated to helping the schools, and not just sit in judgment of them.  We have created improvement teams, consisting of highly qualified teachers and principals to go out to help the schools.  We have completed 1453 site visits to struggling schools.  Much more is to come.  These visits included classroom walk-throughs; meetings with principas, teachers and other staff; improving planning sessions; leadership coaching; professional development; and other supports.

The school improvement system that appears to be the most successful, based on what schools increase their letter grades, the most and maintain, the higher grades is called Project Momentum.  Project Moment works with school, leaders and teachers to development the skills, leadership, and focus necessary to ensure student outcomes improve.  In the schools that have been served so far in Arizona, schools have improved their proficiency scores by more than two times the state average in English, and more than three times the state average in math.  By the end of last year, we had 80 schools implementing Project Momentum.  We hoped to double that number, and as it turned out, word go around about success, and we tripled the number.

2. Leadership training.

A key to success in schools is effective leaders.  Without an effective principal, a school cannot be effective.  We have developed a separate division devoted to leadership training.  Last year, more than 900 school leaders attended in-person training.  That number will continue to grow.  We asked principals at the end of the training if they would recommend these trainings to a colleague, and 100% of them answered, yes.

3. Student achievement proficiency data by economic group.

The department website has scatter diagrams comparing proficiency to economic group.  These graphs show that power is not a bar to high achievement.  For example, it shows that the Ashfork Elementary School has 80% free and reduced lunch, but almost double the state average of proficiency.  Schools can use this information to learn from other schools with the same amount of poverty, ut with higher proficiency success. 

4. English language learning. 

In the year 2000, Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative requiring that students learning English be taught in structured English immersion, rather than bilingual or dual language.  Tom Horne’s first two term, from 2003 to 2011, bilingual language was replaced by structured English immersion, and the rate of proficiency in one year went up from 4% to 31%.  The emphasis was on professional development to teachers on how to properly teach Structured English Immersion.  At 31% in one year, within three or four years everyone becomes proficient.  After Horne left to become Arizona Attorney General, efforts for structure English immersion were redacted, and 10 districts went back to dual language/bilingual language.  We are working to get those districts back to conformity with the law so that English Language students can learn English quickly and succeed academically in the regular mainstream classrooms.

5. Move On When Reading. 

If a student cannot read by third grade, their chances of succeeding academically are vastly reduced.  Arizona had a rule that students could not go to fourth grade unless they could read.  However, under a loophole, many students were passed on, even if they could not read.  Working with the State Board, we’ve eliminated that loophole and are working hard to be sure that all students can read before they move on to fourth grade.

6. Teacher Preparation Colleges. 

Surveys of teachers and principals show that overwhelming numbers feel that in education colleges, teach too much theory and not enough practical knowledge.  As superintendents of schools, Tom Horne has a seat on the Arizona Board of Regents which governs colleges, and he is working to correct his problem.  Tom Horne will revamp the colleges of education at all 3 universities to ensure teachers are well prepared both in teaching their content and how to manage classroom discipline.

7. Education Economic Commission.

We have undertaken a major expansion of the Career Technical education Program, which used to be called vocational education.  Our goal is that every student graduates either college or career ready.  Arizona has great companies, but business leaders indicate a shortage of skilled workers.  We organized a commission called the Arizona education economic commission.  We entered into an agreement with leaders of the major companies in our state:  we will provide the skilled workers.  In return, the companies will let us know what skills are necessary to achieve high salaried jobs after high school.  I will provide people to teach those skills. We expect that every student who is not going to college will have the skill to get a good paying job after high school.

8. Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force. 

Arizona is losing more teachers than are entering the classroom, and this must be corrected.  We recruited a bipartisan task force to come up with idea and ways to correct this program and are working hard to implement its recommendations: salary and discipline in the classroom.

9. County Consortium.

Educators in small counties must have the same opportunities as those in Phoenix and Tucson.  We are working with County Superintendent to provide ongoing professional education and make certification and professional development opportunities convenient.

10. $40 million for Free Tutoring. 

Students show how tutoring is the best way for students to improve their academic proficiencies as quickly as possible.  We have made $40 million for free tutoring for a student whose parents want to make sure their children are advancing particularly in math and reading.

11. School Safety.

We’ve almost doubled the number of policy officers in schools to keep student and staff safe.  We must do everything we can to prevent some of the tragedies that have happened in other states from occurring in Arizona.

12. Character Education.

A successful society needs graduates who are academically successful and have a good characters.  We promote the six pillars of character in our schools:  trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

13. Red Tape Out of Schools.

We worked hard to reduce the paperwork required of teachers, so they can focus on teaching the students.  The needs assessment required from schools had 168 questions; we reduced it to 20.  We also reduced kindergarten assessment testing time by 80%.

14. Digital Education Library.

We have developed a portal to help teachers and students in areas such as aligning instruction to state standards, which indicated what the students should be learning at a given grade level.

15. Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial intelligence should not be abused, but it can provide valuable help to educators and students, we are working to keep up with developments and make information about artificial intelligence available to the schools