America at 250: What the world's best schools can teach Arizona

By Stacy Mantle
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The United States will celebrate 250 years of independence on July 4. The milestone has prompted reflection on the nation's past achievements, but it has also sparked questions about its future.

In education, one question stands out: How can today's students be prepared for the next 250 years?

Arizona's schools are navigating challenges that would have been unimaginable to the nation's founders: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity threats, global competition, workforce automation and rapidly changing career demands.

At the same time, education leaders continue to debate familiar issues including literacy, teacher shortages, school funding and student achievement.

While solutions are often sought within state borders, some educators say valuable lessons can be found around the world.

"Public education remains one of America's most important investments because it creates opportunity not just for individuals, but for society as a whole," said Mitra Khazai, governing board president for Madison Elementary School District. "Strong public schools do far more than prepare students for work and careers. They prepare citizens who can think critically, engage respectfully with differing viewpoints and contribute to their communities."

Estonia: Proving size isn't everything

If there is one country that has surprised education researchers in recent years, it is Estonia. Home to 1.4 million residents, Estonia consistently ranks among the highest-performing education systems in the world.

Students excel in reading, math and science while the country spends less per pupil than many larger nations.

Researchers often credit Estonia's success to strong teacher preparation, early intervention for struggling students and widespread integration of digital learning tools. The country also focuses heavily on ensuring students in rural communities have access to high-quality educational opportunities.

That lesson may resonate in Arizona, where many rural districts face ongoing challenges recruiting teachers and delivering specialized services.

Michael Goto, founder of Phoenix-based Unbound Academy, believes successful education systems share a willingness to innovate while preserving strong foundations.

"You can have a solid foundation but still leave yourself open to ideas that might have been outside your initial comfort zone," Goto said. "Competition creates an urgency to be innovative and create learning opportunities for students that otherwise might not have existed."

Singapore: Treating teaching as a profession

Singapore's education system regularly ranks among the world's best.

Unlike many countries facing teacher shortages, Singapore has made teaching a highly selective and respected profession. Educators receive extensive training, mentoring and career development opportunities throughout their careers.

Supporters argue student success begins with teacher quality.

Arizona lawmakers, district leaders and education advocates frequently identify teacher recruitment and retention as critical priorities.

While the state has expanded alternative certification pathways to fill vacancies, some experts believe additional investments in mentoring and professional growth could improve long-term retention.

"The quality of an education system can never exceed the quality of its teachers," writes Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Finland: Building strong readers

Finland became famous for taking a different approach to education. It emphasizes literacy, critical thinking and individualized support while relying less heavily on standardized testing than many education systems.

Finland's success is built on equality, trust, autonomy, creativity, critical thinking and emotional well-being, according to Schleicher. As a result, teachers are highly trained and given substantial flexibility in classroom instruction.

Although Finland's demographics differ significantly from Arizona's, education researchers often point to the country's commitment to early reading intervention as a practice worth examining.

Arizona has made literacy a major priority through initiatives from Read On Arizona and statewide goals aimed at increasing reading proficiency by 2030. Superintendent Tom Horne agrees  literacy remains the state's most important educational priority.

"Reading is the bridge from learning to read to reading to learn," Horne said. "Improving teacher preparation, providing targeted interventions and setting high expectations for young readers must be our highest educational priority."

Canada: Supporting the whole child

Canada consistently performs well academically while maintaining relatively small achievement gaps among student groups. Researchers often point to strong student support systems, investments in multilingual learners and attention to student well-being.

Arizona has increasingly focused on similar issues through expanded counseling programs, school safety initiatives and efforts to support student mental health.

Supporters argue that academic achievement and student well-being are not competing priorities but complementary ones. Rebecca Gau, executive director of Stand for Children Arizona, said supporting students requires investing throughout childhood.

"If we want to make sure that students are finishing school with a quality education and prepared for college, a career or the military, we need to invest in programs from birth through the end of high school," Gau said.

The common thread

Despite their differences, the world's highest-performing education systems share several characteristics.

• They invest in teachers.
• They identify learning challenges early.
• They maintain high expectations.
• They create clear pathways into careers and higher education.
• They pursue long-term educational goals that extend beyond election cycles.

Education improvement rarely happens overnight. In many top-performing countries, reforms were implemented gradually over decades before producing measurable results.

What Arizona is doing right

Literacy intervention: Like Finland and Estonia, Arizona has increased its focus on early literacy screening and intervention to identify struggling readers before they fall significantly behind.

Career and Technical Education: Arizona's growing CTE programs mirror efforts seen in countries such as Singapore, where students are exposed to career pathways and workforce opportunities before graduation.

Personalized learning: Technology-driven programs, adaptive learning platforms and innovative schools are expanding opportunities for individualized instruction, a strategy embraced by many high-performing countries.

Michael Shires, vice chair of education opportunity, higher education, and senior policy officer at America First Policy Institute. believes artificial intelligence could significantly expand personalized learning.

"I do think the onset of AI allows us to customize education," Shires said. "Technology and AI will allow us to help teach kids based on how they learn. I really think there is huge potential for human learning."

Educational choice

Arizona's broad mix of district, charter, private, online and homeschool options provides families with flexibility that is uncommon in many education systems worldwide. However, whether those options remain sustainable is still being debated.

The movement is growing, however, with more parents seeking individual curriculum that better reflect their values. 

"The fact that parents now have greater choice in education, not just between states but even within their own neighborhoods, means that all schools now must step up their game and demonstrate why they are the best choice for their students," said Goto. "Competition creates an urgency to be innovative and create learning opportunities for students that otherwise might not have existed."

Growing attention to student support

Investments in counselors, mental health resources and student services reflect an increasing recognition that academic success is influenced by more than classroom instruction alone.

"If we want to make sure that students are finishing school with a quality education and prepared for college, a career or the military, we need to invest in programs from birth through the end of high school," Gau said.

Preparing for the next 250 years

America's founders could not have imagined artificial intelligence, cybersecurity careers, virtual classrooms or a globally connected economy.

Yet they understood something that remains true today: A nation's future depends on its ability to educate the next generation.

As Arizona continues debating literacy initiatives, teacher shortages, school choice, funding models and workforce development, the experiences of other countries offer a useful reminder: the most successful education systems are not built around a single program, test or reform. They are built through a sustained commitment to helping every student develop the knowledge, skills and opportunities needed to succeed.

As the nation enters its next quarter millennium, Arizona's challenge may not be deciding whether to learn from the world's best education systems. It may be determining which lessons can help prepare today's students for the opportunities and challenges of the next 250 years.

Khazai believes one lesson should guide whatever reforms come next.

"When students understand the purpose behind what they are learning, engagement, ownership and lifelong learning all become stronger," she said. "It is about helping students discover what motivates them so they become active participants in their own education."

Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter

smantle@iniusa.org

Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.

Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!

Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.

Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.