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 if we are going to achieve “the Arizona we want” in the 21st century. Central to those opportunities is aligning the state’s education system to.
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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 Arizona 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. It will serve as the umbrella organization for all activities designed to disseminate and implement Beat the Odds as a critical tool in updating the operating culture of our schools.