Educational Stability

Only 50 percent of children in the foster care system graduate high school due to the state’s chronic educational neglect. We fight to replace this neglect with policies that protect a child’s right to learn. Reforms include securing the right for children to remain in their school of origin, mandating the immediate transfer of records, requiring acceptance of partial credits, and ensuring immediate special education evaluations.

Key Points

Educational Success: By securing school stability and more, we’re reversing a system where children in care lose six months of learning with every move.

Children in foster care are four times more likely to switch schools in the middle of the year. Each move sets them back about six months in school.

Events & Testimonies

  • Testimony: Suppose House Bill 2645

    This bill requires calculating and applying partial credits when a high-school-age foster youth must transfer schools according to a best interest determination. The state board of education must develop guidelines [...]

  • Testimony: Suppose House Bill 2542

    Members of the committee: My name is Kendall Seal. I am the Vice President for Policy at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children (Center). The Center works with [...]

Op-Eds

  • Stop holding children back

    Only 40% of children in foster care graduate from high school on time in Arizona. The way to solve that problem is by making sure simple

  • Closing educational gap for kids in foster care

    Read more here.

  • Child learning

    We Can Reduce the Need for Special Education through Better Drug Treatment

    Pregnant women struggling with addiction need early and effective paths to sobriety. This would both decrease the effects of drug exposure in the infants and decrease the likelihood of foster care by giving moms a longer runway for recovery.

Research & Reports

  • Special Education Screening for All Students Entering Care

    Executive Summary Children have a right to education. However, children in foster care struggle to fully benefit from this fundamental right. In Arizona, children who experience foster care have the [...]

  • Expanded Workforce Education for Abused and Neglected Children

    Executive Summary Every child deserves a safe and loving home, but far too many live in homes that are unhealthy and unsafe—often from birth. These are children who were born [...]

  • Students in Foster Care Credit Transfer

    Executive Summary Youth in foster care face an uphill battle in educational attainment. Abuse, ongoing trauma, and unstable living arrangements contribute to poor outcomes for foster youth. Foster children move [...]

  • Fact Sheet: Closing the Gap for Arizona Foster Students

    CLOSING ARIZONA’S EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT GAP FOR CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE Arizona children in foster care place near last among all at-risk student groups. A quality, stable education increases positive long-term [...]

  • Closing the Educational Achievement Gap – Report 2022

    BACKGROUND By every educational achievement measure, Arizona’s children in foster care place near last among other at-risk student groups – including those experiencing homelessness, those in poverty, and those who [...]

Resources & Tools

Podcasts & Audio

Television & Video

Model Reforms

  • Executive Summary Children have a right to education. However, children in foster care struggle to fully benefit from this fundamental right. In Arizona, children who experience foster care have the lowest on-time graduation of any demographic, including homeless children. Specifically, fewer than half (41.2%) of children in foster care who were members of the class [...]

  • Executive Summary Every child deserves a safe and loving home, but far too many live in homes that are unhealthy and unsafe—often from birth. These are children who were born exposed to drugs, which can have long-lasting impacts including damage to the brain’s structure and functioning. Unsurprisingly, foster youth are classified as disabled at high [...]

  • Executive Summary Youth in foster care face an uphill battle in educational attainment. Abuse, ongoing trauma, and unstable living arrangements contribute to poor outcomes for foster youth. Foster children move from one home to another an average of two to three times while in care, and one-third of older youth experience five or more school [...]

  • BACKGROUND By every educational achievement measure, Arizona’s children in foster care place near last among other at-risk student groups – including those experiencing homelessness, those in poverty, and those who speak English only as a second language. The collective adversities facing children in foster care are distinct from other at-risk populations. Many foster children change [...]