2018 Top Ten Issues to Watch in Georgia

To address the needs of its citizenry, Georgia has embarked on a series of education reforms  to transform its public education system so that every student who graduates from high school is successful in college and their chosen career, and  is competitive with their peers throughout the country and the world. The state is moving in the right direction to ensure an internationally competitive, educated citizenry. 

  

The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education has released the 2018 Top Ten Issues to Watch. For the past 14 years, the Partnership has published a report that both identifies and analyzes the key education issues the state will be or should be addressing in the coming year 

Georgia now ranks around the national average on the important indicators of grade-level reading and mathematics and the percentage of students needing remediation upon entering post-secondary education is decreasing.   

To be a global leader, however, Georgia must take its education system to the next level by creating conditions in which schools continuously advance their own performance through teaching and learning. 

The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education researched the policies that high- performing states, countries, and school systems share, and created a framework to ensure that those same policies that enable and accelerate strong public education are in place in Georgia.

This framework includes seven core policy areas that when fully implemented and working together produce optimum outcomes for students: 

1.  Foundations for learning, which include supports from birth for families, schools,  and communities as well as access to high-quality early learning 

2.  Quality teaching  for all students ensured by providing supports for teachers across recruitment, retention, and professional development and learning 

3.  Quality leadership within schools—such as teacher leaders, counselors, and principals— and outside the school building, such as district and state leaders 

4. Supportive learning environments that promote positive conditions for learning within schools through fostering positive school climate and social and emotional learning for students,  and outside of school in the home and throughout the community 

5.  Advanced instructional systems that support high standards, personalized learning, innovation, a strong accountability system, and aligned curricula 

6. Clear pathways to post-secondary success that support the transition from high school into post-secondary education, and ensure post-secondary education access and success 

7.  Adequate and equitable funding for all students