The conservative reaction was unfortunate, as the program focused on fostering pride in students’ heritage, not resentment toward others. And an audit mandated by Huppenthal showed that the MAS program had helped raise student achievement, and students who participated in the program were more likely to attend college:

“Students in the MAS program far outperformed their peers on Arizona’s state standardized tests in reading (by 45 percentage points), writing (by 59 percentage points), and math (by 33 percentage points), and they enroll in post-secondary institutions at a rate of 67 percent, well above the national average. Also, pedagogies [teaching strategies] used in Tucson’s MAS classes encourage and support students to be actively involved in their communities, a strategy that has been shown to correlate with increased classroom engagement.