The dean of ASU’s College of Teacher Education and Leadership is working to increase education’s role in Arizona’s future.

Placing a high value on education and increasing parental involvement are key elements to changing the culture of education in Arizona, said dean Mari Koerner.

“It’s not immigration, it’s not even the construction business failing ... the central question for Arizona is education,” she said.

According to a 2008 U.S. Census Bureau survey, 16.3 percent of Arizona residents 25 and older do not posses a high-school diploma, compared to 15.5 percent in the U.S.

The possibilities for people who have either dropped out of high school or only have a high school diploma are changing, and those same jobs are now only available to people with an education, Koerner said.

“I think people are just now realizing we need a culture of education for the best jobs, for people to fill those jobs, and for companies to come here,” she said.

It may take time for people in Arizona to understand a college education is a pathway that starts as early as junior high, she said.

The biggest challenges in reforming education are these children’s parents, said Alan Bird, an education graduate student.

“A teacher can explain the importance of education until they’re blue in the face … but if their parent places no value on education, what incentive is there for the student to try in school?” he said.

Changing the face of education in Arizona will also require a resetting of ideals, including realizing the value of community colleges, one of Arizona’s most underutilized resources, Koerner said.

Before coming to ASU, Koerner was director of teacher education at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and the importance put on education between the two states is vastly different, she said.

“In Massachusetts, it was, ‘Where are you going to college?’ not ‘Are you going to college?’” she said, adding that most students coming to UMB either had associate’s degrees or the maximum amount of transferable hours from a community college.

It is necessary to place a greater emphasis on education, Koerner said, because a highly-educated working population leads to greater opportunity and improved quality of life.

“It’s amazing in the United States how education can be the access to a middle-class lifestyle, … it’s just got to happen in Arizona,” she said.

Reach the reporter at anatwood@asu.edu