Here and Now: K-12 Education

I would like to ask the superintendent if he would take back his negative comments regarding the counter-recruitment demonstrators who exercised First Ammendment rights to help educate students on life-or-death matters. He said:

“I urge these adults to look in the mirror and decide to do something constructive for education, rather than destructive.”

I say it is absolutely constructive to give students the other side of the story, so they can make an informed decision before putting their lives on the line. Urging peaceful people to be quiet and let students remain uninformed is as un-American as you can get.

I know Tom Horne didn't serve in Viet Nam; how many of his 4 kids are serving in the military?

Hello Mr. Horne, I am a public teacher here in Arizona with a major dilemma. I cannot afford to live in (or anywhere nearby) the community that I am currently serving. What is the State Department doing to help teachers afford to purchase starter homes/condos/shacks?

With Arizona's test scores and SAT scores being so poor, I would think Mr. Horne would want to see that more time is spent educating students within the public school system, rather than taking time from their schedules to expose them to military indoctrination. Mr. Horne has not done a good job as superintendent, and the results certainly show that. What does he intend to do to improve AZ's performance, other than more of the same that he's been doing, since what he's been doing has not been successful?

Last I read Arizona schools rank 48 in the nation, which is terrible. Worse, my three kids are in the best school in the area, which by GreatSchools.net ranks only a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Is there a goal to at least put Arizona into the top 25 nation-wide? And if so, by when? And how? And if not, why not?

My daughters attend Veritas Prep. This is a charter school which ranks in the top 5 high schools in the state. All of the schools in our charter are excelling in both the junior and senior high schools. I understand that Mr. Horne is requiring our school (and 4 other excelling charter schools) to change their curriculum to add American History to the junior high curriculum. Our high school freshman study American history in detail. Among the required reading is the US Constitution, The Federalist Papers, and Democracy in America. My question for Mr. Horne is, why are you requiring these excelling schools to change their curriculum when, by the time these students graduate, they are exceeding state standards and are proving this with excelling state test scores in both the junior and senior high schools?

My son went to charter schools during his junior and senior years of High School, having previously gone to P.V. High School. The charter school had more individualized attention from teachers and helped him to become more interested in school. He did beautifully in the charter school and graduated. He and I were both extremely pleased.
Thank you.

Who sits on the Dept. of Ed.'s Latino/Hispanic Advisory Committee and what is their view on English language instruction and other educational policies that affect the Latino community in Arizona.

Hi Mr. Horne,

My grandson completed 8th grade and is now attending Cactus High School. My question - when will we receive the results from his last AIMS test? The school he was promoted from told us to call the District Office, we have not heard back from that office.

My daughter is in second grade at Coyote Springs ES. The homework does not stress the three R's.
consistenly, and it takes over one hour at times to complete and, takes away from play/family time.
The Homework Myth, and The Case Against Homework are two recent books regarding the fact that homework does not make for better state test scores. Japan I believe has eliminated homework in their country. Also my daughter's teacher cannot answer the question How long should it take for a 2nd grader to do homework? It is not on the district website or the AZ state website.

Continuation of above message to Dr. Horne - I just heard back from Washington School District and they are going to mail out the AIMS test today. Thanks.

Mr. Horne

In some districts, such as Paradise Valley, they list jobs on the unified school district website that have maybe a three-day window opportunity to apply and be interviewed for a position, while other jobs are listed as open until filled. What is the purpose of this tight period of application? I have noticed that these type of listings are only being posted to comply with EOE guidelines and the position has already been filled, even though a department head and, or, principal, will go through the motions of contacting applicants, interviewing them, all the time knowing they are merely going through the motions.

I am the parent of a Tempe Preparatory Academy graduate and senior. I need to dispel Mr. Horne's erroneous statement made on your show today.

He stated that the federal government has mandated standards grade by grade. This statement was misleading, as these standards apply only to reading, math, and writing, NOT to social studies and science.

I have a master's degree in American History, and one of the reasons I enrolled my daughters in Tempe Prep was the way they teach history, starting out with a firm grounding in the classics in the middle school years and then digging in deep in the study of American History in ninth grade.

TPA and Great Hearts students aren't reading from a textbook; they are reading the primary documents of our founding--The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers--and they are reading them in the context of a two-hour seminar taught in the Socratic method. In these Humane Letters classes they debate, discuss, and argue with their classmates, bringing history alive.

I wish Great Hearts the greatest success in their lawsuit. I am heartened that someone cares enough to fight for high standards in the classroom.