ASU president Michael Crow ‘optimistic’ about COVID-related learning loss recovery

PHOENIX — With Arizona’s education still suffering from COVID-related learning loss, Arizona State University president Michael Crow says the institution and the state “are moving in (the right) direction.”

Crow, who joined KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday, also attributed the learning loss to “a lack of preparation for rapid change into technologically-enhanced learning,” which is sweeping across the state’s K-12 education.

ASU and Crow are combatting the poor preparation by making their own technologically-based resources more readily available for all through initiatives such as ASU Prep Digital.

The president also touted a series of public charter schools that boast a graduation rate upwards of 95%. ASU is also working to better prepare and train teachers so students don’t have to catch up as much when they arrive on campus.

Relating to the ‘No. 1 in innovation’ slogan that ASU loves to point to, the engineering program has utilized what Crow calls “advanced learning robots” which work to alleviate learning deficiencies and expand the engineering department.

Crow says that because of this and other methods, the school will produce over 7,000 engineering graduates, up from the 903 listed from Fall 2023.

“We have a system of education which is overly rigid and is less innovative than it should be,” Crow told Broomhead. “And it’s not using tools that are available to us … to the extent that we could. But I think that we are … making things happen so I am optimistic.”

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