March 2005: The Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) presented the first step in the “Vision for Arizona” process to the public in a full page announcement in newspapers across the state. Distilled from more than 50 major policy reports produced over the past 15 years and endorsed by more than 70 public and private organizations, the vision provides a framework for understanding the great opportunities citizens must address to achieve “the Arizona we want” in the 21st century. Central to those opportunities is aligning the state’s education system to the needs of the modern workplace.

March 2006: A second step in the visioning process was taken with the release of a groundbreaking study entitled “Why Some Schools with Latino Children Beat the Odds ... and Others Don’t.” The public response to "Beat the Odds" was immediate and widespread. Educators and leaders in all sectors, locally and nationally, expressed interest in, and support of, Beat the Odds as the voice of “well founded hope” for schools.

May 2007: After more than a year of meetings and presentations involving hundreds of educators, policy makers, civic leaders and organizations in the social sector, CFA established the Beat the Odds Institute under its umbrella.

October 2007: The Beat the Odds School Partners Program was launched with 27 pilot schools, providing K-12 principals with the training, assistance and support they need to apply the Beat the Odds keys to success in their schools.

September 2008: The Beat the Odds School Partners Program entered its second year and expanded to 59 metro Phoenix-area schools.

September 2009: During its third year, Beat the Odds expanded to 85 schools in the metro Phoenix area, Tucson and Whiteriver on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.