Task force nets results: Marana Unified School District has seen a growth in literacy since implementing an Early Literacy Task Force and providing training to teachers and administrators using pandemic relief funds, Tucson Local Media’s Veronica Kuffel reports. More than 1,200 teachers participated in the program and in K-6 classrooms, teachers have increased their reading and writing curriculums from 90 to 135 to 155 minutes a day.

“On the literacy benchmarks we implement at MUSD, we’ve seen growth at every grade level and in every cohort since 2021,” assistant superintendent Kristin Reidy said. (August 1, 2023)

Creative thinking: The Marana Unified School District is turning a vacant urgent care building into a new school, KGUN’s Denelle Veselik reports. The district used state funds to remodel the building, which will become a personalized learning academy for high schoolers when it’s completed next year.

"This is really a first-of-its-kind project, and it could really serve as the future of Arizona," MUSD Superintendent Dan Streeter said. "Of how school districts can utilize existing square footage within their district boundaries and really find an innovative way to fund school construction." (March 4)