A for Arizona exists to support and expand the number of our best A-quality leaders, educators, and public school models, especially those who serve primarily low-income students. The program is a project of the Arizona Chamber Foundation, in partnership with the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. We believe all students in Arizona deserve to be educated in an A-grade school, and we know that such schools are possible everywhere. It is time to insist. Learn more about A for Arizona. The Sacaton Elementary School District is joining forces with the A for Arizona program this year. Our first work together came with a site visit from legislators, Chamber of Commerce representatives from Phoenix and Tucson. T.J. Shope and Barbara McQuire were among the distinquished guests. A for Arizona will work with the Sacaton Elementary School District in providing leadership training, networking, and school partnerships. We are particularly interested in establishing a sister school district who has shown the capacity for high academic achievement despite its community’s relatively poor economic conditions.

For the first time ever, the Chandler Gilbert Community College is teaming up with the Sacaton Elementary School District by providing student assistance in over 22 classrooms in the elementary and middle schools. CGCC student volunteers will work one-on-one with Sacaton students struggling with their classroom academics. Student volunteers will be helping students with their reading, math, social studies and writing skills. Under the direction of 22 different teachers, the GGCC students will be volunteering over 20 hours each semester. The program is set to begin in September 2016.

For the past two years, the University of Phoenix has been working with the Sacaton Elementary School District by providing essential professional development for our teaching and support staff. This year, they are concentrating their work with the paraprofessional instructional staff members. In all, there will be seven distinct in-service experiences for the paraprofessional staff members in the Sacaton Schools. Professional Development topics range from student engagement in the classroom to leadership roles both in the classroom and in the general community. It has been a pleasure working with the University of Phoenix these past two years. We look forward to more collaboration with them in the future.

Teach For America has been going strong for over twenty five years. In those twenty five years 50,000 teachers have been trained and hired to work in some of our nation’s neediest schools. Over 42,000 alumni and millions of students have been fortunate enough to work with Teach For America professional educators.

This past summer, 35 Teach For America student teachers taught in Sacaton Elementary and Sacaton Middle Schools beginning in first through eighth grade. Each of the student teachers was given a Sacaton School District mentor teacher for the summer time classes. Additionally, by summer’s end, all student teachers are gainfully employed throughout the western United States as part of the Native Alliance Initiative.

TFA launched Native Achievement Initiative (later called Native Alliance Initiative in May 2009. Today TFA is working with students and leaders in Hawaii, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Washington state. We will continue our collaborative efforts and in the not-too-distant future we could be placing TFA teachers in our schools.

The Sacaton Elementary School District is proud of its continuing collaboration with so many of our community agencies and businesses. Below you will see the long list and descriptions of our partnerships. We encourage any organization or individuals to contact us about volunteering and/or helping in our schools in any capacity that is good for our children.

Girl Scouts of America

For the past few years, the Sacaton School District has partnered with the Girl Scouts of America to bring Girl Scouts – Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc. to over 100 of our Kindergarten through 8^th grade female students. Last year, Mag Boase, Girls Scouts Member Engagement Executive, worked hard to bring the Toyota Financial Literacy program for our 4^th through 8^th grade Girl Scouts. We are looking to expand program offerings for our students that will give them an opportunity for overnight leadership conference attendance and local gatherings to help the girls earn the badges offered by the Girl Scout programs.

If you’re interested in having your student become involved or would like to volunteer your time, please contact Mag Boase, Member Engagement Executive of the Girl Scouts- Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc.

The headquarters can be found at: 119 E. Coronado Road | Phoenix, AZ 85004. Their telephone contact information and website information are as follows:

602.228.6551 | 800.352.6133 | F 602.452.7100

www.girlscoutsaz.org

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Our on going partnership with Pinal County School Office Education Service Agency (PCSOESA) provides targeted professional development for Sacaton’s administrators, specialists, teachers, and para-professionals. Annually, the county surveys our staff and meets with our leadership to determine differentiated trainings for our district. We appreciate Pinal County’s efforts to bring many of these unique workshops right to our site.

Over the years, our staff participated in a variety of classes, including Reading Foundations, Math Strategies, STEM, Gifted and Talented, Special Education, Classroom Management, Data Analysis, Standards-Based Instruction, ELL, Robotics, Student Engagement, and Integrated Technology. As a district, we also benefitted through involvement in grant opportunities facilitated and managed by Pinal County.

In 2015-16, we embarked on a new venture in math with Pinal County. Our district committed to offering grade level teachers deeper exploration into math standards and practices through a Rodel Math 20/20 program delivered by county math specialists. Sacaton is the host for neighboring districts to join us in this monthly collaborative teacher training. Our separate math cohorts involve third grade, fifth grade, sixth grade and seventh grade teachers, as well as including staff from our CTC lab. We look forward to continuing our growth in effective instruction and student achievement through the county’s partnership.