The Arizona Republic,
Creighton School and CISA Awarded the Mayor's Partnership Award for Leadership

The Arizona Republic, Creighton Elementary and Communities In Schools of Arizona received the Mayor’s Partnership Award in Leadership for their innovative “1-2-3 Read Program”. The partnership will be recognized on April 27th, 2006 at a luncheon hosted by the City of Phoenix Youth & Education Commission, 3TV and Know99 Television, who annually sponsor the Mayor's Partnership Awards program.

The category that this partnership was awarded, Leadership, is given to an individual or organization that has been effective in facilitating successful education partnerships in Phoenix, both from a corporate and education perspective. The partnership also must demonstrate an impact on the school and the students involved over a sustained amount of time. This unique collaboration began in 2004-2005 school year and is now in its second year of a three-year partnership.

The primary goal of this partnership is to help the school’s first graders who started in 2004-2005 increase their reading skills to a third grade level by school year ending 2006-2007. The four objectives of the partnership are:

To assist in improving reading skills of an entire grade level of students

• To improve critical education and economic development issues is Arizona
• To help the public understand the challenges facing schools and highlight ways the community can support improvement efforts
• To showcase a results driven program that could be replicated in elementary schools with similar demographics

The Arizona Republic provides 30+ tutors to help meet these academic objectives. These tutors have really shown a greater commitment to the students and school than just tutoring. The Arizona Republic tutors have participated in field trips, connected the school to guest authors to speak to the students, purchased books, and much more. CISA supports this partnership by meeting the nonacademic needs of the students so that they are able to focus on their education. Creighton School has been very helpful throughout the whole partnership by providing training for the tutors, welcoming reporters on campus, and allowing the community to see what is happening in education, specific to their school. This partnership is truly rewarding for all involved!