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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTES TO ELIMINATE 'BONUS POINTS' FROM A-F
LETTER-GRADE FORMULA
A Beam investigation — republication package
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By Katie Wilcox
Originally published by The Beam, August 26, 2026
Original article: https://thebeam.org/arizona-board-of-education-votes-to-eliminate-bonus-points-from-a-f-letter-grade-formula

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FOR YOUR WEB PRODUCER — TWO IMPORTANT SETTINGS
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1. CANONICAL URL. If your CMS has a "canonical URL," "source URL," or
   "SEO: canonical" field on the story, set it to:

      https://thebeam.org/arizona-board-of-education-votes-to-eliminate-bonus-points-from-a-f-letter-grade-formula

   This changes nothing readers see on your site — it tells search engines The
   Beam is the original publisher, so the two versions aren't ranked against
   each other. If your CMS has no such field, skip this step; the credit line
   below covers the essentials.

2. LINKED CREDIT LINE. The attribution sentence in the next section must be
   published as a working hyperlink, not plain text. The .rtf already
   carries the links embedded — if you copy and paste from it, they come
   along. If your CMS strips links on paste, use the ready-made HTML
   version below.

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REQUIRED ATTRIBUTION
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Place this credit line at the top of the story, the bottom, or both. The
links are part of the requirement:

   This story was originally published by The Beam
   (https://thebeam.org/), a nonprofit investigative newsroom at Arizona
   State University's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Read the
   original at thebeam.org
   (https://thebeam.org/arizona-board-of-education-votes-to-eliminate-bonus-points-from-a-f-letter-grade-formula).

Paste-ready HTML version (use in an HTML / "custom HTML" block if pasting
from the .rtf strips the links):

   <p><em>This story was originally published by <a
   href="https://thebeam.org/">The Beam</a>, a nonprofit investigative
   newsroom at Arizona State University's Howard Center for Investigative
   Journalism. Read the original <a
   href="https://thebeam.org/arizona-board-of-education-votes-to-eliminate-bonus-points-from-a-f-letter-grade-formula">at
   thebeam.org</a>.</em></p>

The photograph must carry the credit line "Katie Wilcox / The Beam."

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WHAT'S IN THIS PACKAGE
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1. 01_README-bonus-points-20260826.txt
   This file.

2. bonus-points-20260826.rtf
   The full article text. Open in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or Google
   Docs. Copy and paste the body into your CMS as you would any wire story.
   Keep the byline intact; use the package headline and dek above.

3. bonus-points-20260826-photos.txt
   One photograph, with URL, credit, alt text, caption, and suggested
   placement.

This story has no interactive charts and no document embeds.

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HOW TO PUT IT TOGETHER
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A typical republished version looks like this, top to bottom:

  Headline:    (package headline above)
  Dek:         (package dek above)
  Credit:      Required attribution line with links — see above
  Byline:      Katie Wilcox / The Beam
  Lead photo:  AU8A0016-scaled.jpg (optional) — see the photos file
  Body:        Article text from the .rtf
  Footer:      Required attribution line again, if not placed at top.

The article runs as a single news story with no section subheads. It includes
a short "takeaways" bulleted list near the top; keep it as a bulleted list in
your CMS.

The body carries three inline hyperlinks. The .rtf carries them embedded; if
your CMS strips links on paste, restore them on these anchor phrases:

   "Auditor General report" ->
   https://www.azauditor.gov/arizona-department-education-states-f-letter-grade-system

   "State Board of Education" (in the fifth paragraph) ->
   https://azsbe.az.gov/public-meetings/calendar/board-meeting/monday-august-24-2026-arizona-state-board-education-regular

   "failed to meet proficiency standards" ->
   https://thebeam.org/gap-growing-between-arizona-students-graduating-and-math-and-english-proficiency

Please keep the last link (to The Beam's earlier investigation) intact — it
points readers back to the original newsroom.

If you publish text only, simply omit the photo — no markers need to be
removed from the body.

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QUESTIONS / SOURCE DATA
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Mark Greenblatt - mark.greenblatt@asu.edu
Lauren Mucciolo - lauren.mucciolo@asu.edu

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