Download the PDF: What Would it Take to Be Number One 2015

While there were a few bright spots, it was a tough year for racial equity and opportunity at the legislature. Lawmakers passed policies that will limit opportunities for many Arkansas families. They also failed to pass policies that would have given more Arkansans a chance to thrive and succeed in the future. These policies affect […]

This legislative session, like many others before it, had its ups and downs. The children and families of Arkansas won some, but suffered some major losses as well. The Private Option, Arkansas’s version of Medicaid expansion, will continue to provide health coverage for low-income Arkansans, at least through 2016. However, changes are likely on the horizon. Our state’s […]

When Keith A. Nitta, then of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and I developed our 2008 study “Arkansas Education in the Post-Lake View Era: What Is Arkansas Doing to Close the Achievement Gap?,” Arkansas was just emerging from the dramatic alterations in state education policy created by the adequacy and equity […]

The wisest investment Arkansas can make in its people is to provide quality pre-K. Arkansas is a poor state where almost one-third of our children live in poverty and more than 60 percent are eligible for free and reduced lunches. Failing to ensure that these children are ready to learn when they start school greatly […]

Children who participate in pre-K, particularly low-income children, are better prepared for kindergarten.

Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book, a comprehensive, 50-state look at child welfare. Arkansas made gains in health coverage and education over the last year, but the child poverty rate went up to 29 percent. Those ups and downs are consistent with national trends, but what would it […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) is releasing three documents aimed at helping low-income parents understand Common Core State Standards (Common Core). The documents are written in family-friendly language that is more easily understood by non-education professionals. One of our partner organizations in this work, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, will be using the […]