Impact
Propelling Arizona’s Educators
Teachers are the most important school-related influence on student achievement. To effectively serve students, educators need support and professional learning opportunities to feel prepared to teach students, achieve their goals, build a professional community, and stay sustained in this work. This strengthens our schools, our communities, and our state.
Because of this, at the Arizona K12 Center, we approach our work with care and respect for Arizona’s educators and the profession.
Case Studies
Explore how the Arizona K12 Center’s mentoring and induction programs and National Board support have affected Arizona school systems and educators in our collection of case studies.
Building a Culture of Induction: Case Studies in Mentoring
Advancing a Culture of Accomplished Teaching: Case Studies in National Board Certification
Teacher Retention Impact
The Arizona New Teacher Support Program is a research-backed program directly focused on improving both teacher quality and retention.
While many Arizona school districts do provide some new teacher orientation or induction programming, it is not always based in best practices or continued beyond the early days of the school year. As highlighted in the 2022 Summary for Beginning Teachers in Arizona by Dr. Richard Ingersoll, significant discrepancies exist in the training and ongoing development afforded to educators.
The Arizona New Teacher Support Program is built out of the New Teacher Center’s induction and mentoring model, the gold-standard for teacher induction. Research from SRI International shows this induction model positively affects student achievement in math and English language arts, along with increasing teacher quality and teacher retention.
By providing highly trained instructional mentors grounded in evidence-based practices, we address both Arizona’s teacher shortage and equip those teachers with the tools to best accelerate student learning. Of all school-related factors, teachers are the most significant on student learning. Our approach prepares mentors to work with teachers with varying experience and certifications levels. And the results are in.
Summer of Impact
Every summer, we gather hundreds of Arizona educators for enriching experiences that energize and empower them, setting the stage for a successful new school year filled with resilience and dedication to their students. Find our upcoming summer events at azk12.org/events.
Donate
Empower teachers by supporting their learning. The Arizona K12 Center provides high-quality professional learning opportunities and support, available to all Arizona educators. Our programs include:
The Arizona New Teacher Support Program, an evidence-based approach to induction and mentoring. This program builds capacity in Arizona’s newest teachers through quality, research- based programming and mentoring, and currently spans 33 programs across eight counties.
Support for National Board Certification, a rigorous and reflective process that requires teachers to demonstrate the National Board Standards in their practice. Research shows that the effect a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) has on student performance is positive in terms of student gains on reading and math assessments, and NBCTs are proven to stay in the profession longer than their counterparts.
A variety of professional learning events to serve educators’ needs, including our Beginning Teacher Series for new teachers, Cognitive Coaching, and the annual Teacher Leadership Institute.
Gifts of any size are appreciated. Your generous donation will help fund educators’ professional learning, in turn, benefiting Arizona’s students. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Learn here about sponsorships for the Celebration of Accomplished Teaching for more info or email\ Marketing Manager Kristin Moon at info@azk12.org.