Expect More Arizona » Ad Campaign

New Public Awareness Campaign Encourages Arizona Parents to Aim Higher and Stay Engaged

Expect More Arizona — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:37:23 +0000

With a new president in place, a $3 million commitment from Helios Education Foundation over the next four years and the launch of a new Parent Engagement Program, this is an exciting week for Expect More Arizona.

Our increased focus on parents and families is fueled by research that shows students with actively engaged parents are more likely to perform better academically, graduate from high school and go on to college or other postsecondary program. In addition, more than 50% of Arizona students report that the most influential figure in their education is their parents.

The parent-focused program is supported by a multimedia public awareness campaign that includes TV, radio, online and select print advertising. The media campaign is designed to inspire parents to set high expectations and be actively involved in student academic success.

In addition to the media campaign, the parent engagement program includes a web-based resource center for parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles; educational workshops and presentations; targeted brochures and flyers for families with children of all ages; and informative year-round communications. By providing information, tools and resources to stay engaged and ensure students are prepared for every stage of education, Expect More Arizona seeks to move more parents from awareness of Arizona’s college and career-readiness challenge to action on behalf of their child, school and education overall.

Challenging Arizona families and parents to create a high expectations culture at home, Expect More Arizona encourages student academic success to be a family priority, ahead of athletics, entertainment and work. In addition, we ask parents to set completion of college or other postsecondary education as their child’s ultimate academic goal, while remaining actively engaged in their child’s education from birth through postsecondary.

“Parents are a child’s first teacher, and we want to create urgency while inspiring hope and empowerment that they are in control of the quality of their child’s education and critically important to their academic success,” said Pearl Chang Esau, president and CEO of Expect More Arizona. “High school can no longer be the finish line for Arizona students. We need parents to commit to setting an expectation with their children that they will go on to complete college or a postsecondary program.”

To see more of our new parent engagement program, visit Our Campaign, where you can download and easily share all of our materials.

Expecting More Just Got More Important

Expect More Arizona — Sat, 14 May 2011 22:16:13 +0000

In 2007, Expect More Arizona didn’t even have a name. It was an idea held by a small group of passionate individuals who were concerned about our struggling education system and the lack of urgency to make it better.

Few people know that the name actually came from the license plate of one of our founding members, one of Arizona’s celebrated superintendents and the leader of Rodel Foundation of Arizona, Dr. Carol Peck. The group felt “Expect More Arizona” encapsulated the heart of what they wanted to achieve: higher expectations for education in Arizona.

Thus, it became the rally cry for expecting more of our students, teachers, parents, citizens… and Arizona’s leaders.

Less than four years since our creation, it’s hard not to feel that we still have a long road ahead of us and that we are on the cusp of severely damaging an already fragile system.

Last week, the Arizona Legislature passed a budget which cuts well over $400 million from education in Arizona, including $148 million from K-12 education. Today our Governor announced she signed it.

This means too many of our classrooms will get more crowded, quality programs will be cut, great teachers will be let go and university tuitions will rise. It also means that tax dollars dedicated to our schools with the passage of Proposition 100 will effectively be removed from supporting the academic success of our students to balance the budget.

Arizona has some incredible bright spots in education, but today is definitely not a shining moment for our state. Too many of our elected leaders are championing mediocrity and providing the level of resources to our K-12 and higher education institutions to ensure we get there.

Expect More Arizona’s vision is to make Arizona’s education system – from birth through career – a model of excellence across the nation and around the world. To have high academic standards, rigorous curriculum and great teachers who are preparing our students to succeed in college, career and life.

Our work just got tougher, and expecting more just got more important.

We encouraged you to “Vote 4 Education” during the 2010 elections. Now we urge you to hold your elected leaders accountable for the decisions they are making that impact education and Arizona’s future. We also encourage you to commit to doing more for education this year. Your support is more important than ever before.

[WATCH] Horizonte Discussion: How Policy & Budget Cuts Impact Arizona Schools

Expect More Arizona — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:15:39 +0000

Expect More Arizona’s Executive Director, Nicole Magnuson, and Arizona School Administrators‘ Executive Director, Deb Duvall, recently visited Eight’s Horizonte to discuss how recent policy and budget decisions impact Arizona’s schools. Watch the discussion in the video below, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Khan Academy: Sets Bar High and Helps Bolster Math Achievement

Expect More Arizona — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:18:54 +0000

As parents, we want to be there to help our kids when they have challenges with their studies. But, what happens when they come to us for a subject matter that we aren’t comfortable with ourselves? For too many of us, that subject is math. So, we may ask friends or family to help our students, or we might pay professionals to tutor them.

In 2004, Sal Khan’s aunt visited him in Boston with a similar problem: her daughter Nadia, Khan’s cousin, was having some trouble keeping up with 7th grade advanced track math, and she wasn’t able to help. She turned to her nephew, then a hedge fund manager, for help. Khan began to remotely tutor Nadia, who quickly advanced to the head of her class. Khan went on to tutor other cousins as well, incorporating videos demonstrating how to perform mathematic equations. He uploaded those videos to YouTube so his cousins could easily access his lessons at their convenience. Before he knew it, other people also began watching his videos and commenting on how effective they were.

Just like Sal Khan’s aunt, Arizona parents want to do everything they can to help their children succeed in school and in life. Through his videos, Khan found he was able to reach beyond his family to form a virtual global classroom. Before long, he left his job, and formed the Khan Academy, attempting to help as many students as he could from one centralized Web portal. As he puts it, “I was an analyst at a hedge fund. It was very strange for me to do something of social value.”

Sal Khan embodies what it means to “expect more.” He found that he had a way to help students excel, and instead of limiting his gift to his immediate family, he left a lucrative career to help as many as he can.

Parents can also expect more by knowing our limitations and finding resources to help our children academically, even when we don’t have all the answers ourselves. We can expect more by introducing them to tools like the Khan Academy videos, or even using those tools ourselves to learn and grow along with our students. Fortunately, people like Sal Khan are there to offer a helping hand when we need it.

Parents, what other online tools do you use to help your students excel in school?

DonorsChoose.org: Connecting Philanthropy to High Needs Classrooms

Expect More Arizona — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:20:16 +0000

The Expect More Arizona team sat down with Charles Best, the founder of DonorsChoose.org, this past week to discuss his vision for his thriving internet-based business, its impact on local classrooms, as well as continued partnership opportunities with Expect More Arizona. A former social studies teacher in the Bronx, Best launched DonorsChoose.org in 2000 as a means of connecting what he calls “citizen philanthropists” with local classrooms in need of resources.

Expect More Arizona has been an active proponent of DonorsChoose.org since our launch in 2009 and we see great opportunity for increased partnership. “Expect More Arizona actively champions for Arizonans to do more for education,” said Nicole Magnuson, Expect More Arizona’s Executive Director. “DonorsChoose.org is an easy way for people who want to touch the lives of an entire classroom, and in some cases an entire school, to make an impact.”

DonorsChoose.org, under Charles Best’s leadership, is recognized in Fast Company this month as one of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.” Watch the video interview below with Charles Best about DonorsChoose.org in Arizona.

Arizona's University Presidents Speak Out on Early Learning

Expect More Arizona — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:26:06 +0000

The Presidents of Arizona’s three public universities joined together to publish an article in the Arizona Republic, speaking out in support of early learning. Read an excerpt of the presidents’ article below, and view it in its entirety here.

What may surprise many is that our case for a high-quality education system is a comprehensive one that begins with the earliest years of life and continues through entry into the workforce. Studies show that children exposed to high-quality early-learning programs are more likely to read at grade level, graduate from high school and go on to postsecondary education. They are more likely to be contributing members of our society and less likely to need public support services or end up in the criminal-justice system.

It’s clear, early learning lays the foundation for long-term academic success and is a solid investment with proven economic and societal rewards. Arizona’s current and prospective employers express great concern about the availability of a skilled and knowledgeable workforce pipeline within our state.

During our state’s budget crisis, it would be easy for them to only speak out on the virtues of higher education, but they understand that, long term, our universities depend on students entering college prepared to succeed. Like Expect More Arizona, the presidents believe that strengthening the entire education continuum – birth through career – is critical to improving Arizona’s overall education system and building our state’s economy.

Michael Crow is president of Arizona State University. John Haeger is president of Northern Arizona University. And Robert Shelton is president of the University of Arizona.

“If We Don’t”

Expect More Arizona — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:35:52 +0000

As we work to expand our movement of Arizonans who value education as our state’s top priority, Expect More Arizona is launching a new multimedia campaign intended to elevate the voices of concerned citizens and passionate advocates across the state. In early April, we hit to the highways and talked to parents, students, business leaders and concerned Arizonans in beautiful places like Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson, Casa Grande, Sedona, Flagstaff and more about the state of education. We heard loud and clear that Arizona’s education system is struggling, and that we can’t wait another day to make it a priority.

Our state is desperate to be heard about our demands for improving education, so we decided to use our ad campaign to present these voices of Arizona. From our business leaders to our preschool teachers, the message is clear: Education must be our priority, and we must take action to improve it today. Our prosperity and very quality of life depend on it, you told us. As you’ll hear in the spot, “This, right now, is a critical time for our state.”

You can watch this spot here, or maybe you’ll see it on television. The first round of print, outdoor and radio advertisements are also rolling out this week and next. Maybe you’ll see someone you know or from your hometown. If not, there will be more ads featuring the voices of Arizonans coming very soon.

Presenting the first in the “Voices of Arizona” campaign, “If We Don’t”: