A story exploring how Arizona’s English-only education policy hurts college-going — produced by Arizona Luminaria and Open Campus — earned a second place award from the Arizona Press Club.
Arizona Luminaria’s Carolina Cuellar, a bilingual journalist based in Tucson, Ariz., reported the story, which was recognized in the education category. The two newsrooms worked together for several months on the project.
The story was part of an Open Campus initiative designed to help local news outlets tell ambitious, local higher-ed stories. To date, Open Campus has completed nine such projects with newsrooms, building on the ongoing work it does in 18 places around the country via its Local Network.
Arizona is the only state with an English-only education policy still in effect. Children who aren’t proficient in English are separated from their English-speaking classmates for hours at a time. The result is that many Spanish-speaking Latino children and other English language learners struggle academically.
Arizona has one of the lowest English learner high school graduation rates in the country, at 55%. That’s far lower than the state’s overall graduation rate.
Arizona Luminaria is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to reporting that centers underserved communities. It won awards in multiple categories in the statewide journalism honors, which were announced last week.
About Open Campus
Open Campus is a nonprofit news organization that ensures communities have the independent information they need about higher education. By placing expert reporters in local newsrooms across the country, we help people understand and influence the institutions that shape their future opportunities.