Student and Teacher Perspectives on What Makes Students Successful in High School: Evidence from Phoenix-area Schools

Currently in the United States, Arizona high school students are testing at a standardized testing level barely being ranked in the top 50%. As far as education goes, Arizona's education system is not successful in demonstrating neither teacher nor student success. As past high school students from different forms of education being private, public, or charter, we three have seen what successful and unsuccessful schools are. We also have seen what successful teachers look like. It is our goal to help understand what makes an education system successful and what Arizona can do to help the success of their teachers and their students. The students in high schools today are the future of our world and it is the duty of the education system to help prepare for their future and to be successful. What we currently don’t know and hope to learn from this thesis are the factors that go into making a high school successful and their students also successful. As of right now Arizona is currently ranked 46th in education out of all states and territories belonging to the United States. This means that there are states with schools producing a higher success rate with their students. Not only is the Arizona Education ranking low but its teacher rankings are also low in work environment, student performance, salary compensation, and student success as well as countless others ranking as the 50th state in teacher success. It is clear that the Arizona education system needs to find reform and our goal is to search for what changes need to be made in our classrooms and work environment to create not only more successful teachers and students but also to create a successful education system.