The year 2015 was a milestone year of political change in Arkansas. Because of term limits and the changing political landscape at the state capitol, we lost many of our long-time champions of children’s issues on both sides of the political...
As a result of legislation that Arkansas Advocates and the Arkansas Opportunity to Learn Campaign pushed for in 2013 (Act 1329), the state of Arkansas has since reviewed school discipline practices in schools statewide. From year to year, the...
In light of the attention paid to the achievement gap between white students and students of color during the recent legislative hearing on adequacy (the descriptor for the hearings that determine our state’s education funding priorities), I thought it...
The grades are in for the Education Week Quality Counts ratings. They gave Arkansas’s education system a C-, ranking our state 41st in the nation. We want to explain what that means. Every year, Education Week reviews the components...
Education has been called “the great equalizer,” because it is a key tool in lifting the working poor out of poverty, decreasing crime, and improving health. Arkansas has made education a priority since statehood. The state’s constitution says the...
Parents and Guardians: you are the most important person in your young child’s life. You are already doing great things to help your child succeed. You are your child’s most valuable asset when it comes to making sure their...
Today, we’re releasing a report that talks about what our children really need from birth to eight-years-old. Of course, kids need lots of things including access to health care, nurturing environments, and economically secure households. Check out the report for...
For most of us, letter grades generally don’t reflect how smart we are or how much we learned about, say, medieval history. They can reflect our feelings at one point in time about the importance of, say, medieval history...
Poverty has a negative and lasting impact on a student’s education. Research tells us that poverty can physically impact a child’s developing brain and his future ability to learn. Interventions can reverse that harm. But schools are limited in the tools...
Check out our newest report, The AACF Guide to School Funding. Before you get started, here are three quick things you need to know: Public Schools serve nearly all Arkansas children. During the 2013-2014 school year, 95.7 percent of...