The Top 10 List 

a message from Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones

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Have you ever heard of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education?

The organization's mission is to inform and influence Georgia leaders through research and non-partisan advocacy to impact education policy and practices for the improvement of student achievement. For the 8th year they have produced a publication entitled "Top Ten Issues to Watch". This year's edition has identified 10 excellent issues:

1. How Good Are Our Schools? Georgia's New Performance Standards.
    
2. Assessing Teachers: From Highly Qualified to Highly Effective
    
3. Implementation of Common Core
    
4. Challenges to Rural Schools
    
5. The New Normal: Georgia's Education Financing
    
6. Georgia's Pre-K Program: Quality and Quantity
    
7. Choice: Where Do We Go From Here?
    
8. Economic Development Pipeline: The Role of Education
    
9. Leadership and Ethics in Our Public Schools
    
10. Where's The Glue? Tying It All Together

Each of the 10 issues starts off with an overview and an explanation of its significance for Georgia. Action steps conclude each section.

As I have reviewed the document, I have found it filled with information that we should all be aware of. For example, we've heard a lot about a teacher career ladder. When you look at how the Teacher Keys Evaluation System fits in with Georgia's proposed career ladder guidelines, it starts to come together in a way much further along in development than many of us have recognized.

Issue #5, "The New Normal: Georgia Education Financing", is fascinating. You'll see many of the issues we are facing and how they are being identified and perceived.

I share this with you because the "Top Ten Issues to Watch" is available for download. I recommend that you become familiar with its content.

After all, the more informed we are the better prepared we can be.

Jordan Hill Elementary School receives 2011 Single Statewide Accountability System Gold Award

The Griffin-Spalding County School System's Jordan Hill Elementary School has received the 2011 Single Statewide Accountability System Gold Award from the Governor's Office of Student Achievement for making greatest gains in student achievement.

Jordan Hill Elementary is one of 14 elementary schools in the state of Georgia receiving the gold award. To receive a gold award, schools must:

• Make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for 2 consecutive years;
• Demonstrate that at least 30% of students exceed standards in all test areas as measured by state assessments; and
• Place in the 97th percentile or higher statewide in greatest student achievement gains.

"We are very proud of Jordan Hill Elementary," Dr. Curtis Jones, Superintendent. "This award further shows that our schools and school system are leading the state in student achievement."

Jordan Hill Elementary School Principal Ellen Lee said, "We've been working long and hard for this award by focusing on student achievement. This is actually our 5th year making AYP. We are thrilled that the Governor's Office of Student Achievement has recognized the good work we're doing here. Our teachers and school community are to be commended!"

Earlier this year, the Griffin-Spalding County School System was awarded the $50,000 Title I Distinguished Large School System of the Year for Georgia and the Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce 2012 Good Corporate Citizen of the Year award. In addition, 17 of 18 school system schools made AYP.

Griffin-Spalding chosen by Georgia Tech as partner for $5 million NSF math and science grant proposal

Griffin---The Griffin-Spalding County School System has been invited by Georgia Tech to enter into a Targeted Math and Science Partnership as part of a five year $5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant proposal.

The school system was invited to partner based on the current productive partnership that Carver Road Middle School and Georgia Tech have built around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) initiatives. In addition Georgia Tech staff said the enthusiasm of the board of education members when visited by Georgia Tech to illustrate the Carver Road Middle School work was pivotal in the selection of our school system as a partner.

"We were very happy to receive your message that the Griffin-Spalding County School System would like to partner with us on the NSF Math and Science Partnership proposal. We have worked with many schools and school systems, and have been very impressed with what we are seeing in Griffin-Spalding, and with the quality of the leadership," said Marion Usselman, Ph.D., Associate Director for Federal Outreach and Research, Center for Education Integrating Science, Math and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech.

Dr. Curtis Jones, Superintendent, said of the opportunity, "One conversation changes your whole world when you think about all of the advantages for our teachers and students. To develop and put into practice innovative approaches and strategies in math and science based on educational research is phenomenal. We are pleased that we were the school system chosen over four others as a partner for this grant application."

The primary purpose of the grant proposal will be to extend the STEM initiative into all four middle schools and into ninth grades at both Griffin High School and Spalding High School.

If the proposal is funded, the emphasis will be on Advanced Manufacturing to be implemented as part of the CTAE curriculum. Courses will introduce students to engineering design, robotics, 2-D and 3-D visualization techniques and rapid prototyping to enable them to physically create novel solutions to problems of interest.

The School of Mechanical Engineering and CEISMC at Georgia Tech will lead the team developing the grant proposal along with Griffin-Spalding instructional staff.

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Griffin-Spalding named a Certified Work-Ready Community by the Governor's Office of Workforce Development

The Governor's Office of Workforce Development today (February 1) announced two new Certified Work Ready Communities; a designation communicating a county has the skilled workforce needed to meet business demands and drive economic growth, as well as the educational foundation to build a pipeline of workers to create ongoing success.

"We would like to congratulate Appling and Spalding counties on reaching their goals and becoming Certified Work Ready," said Executive Director Tricia Pridemore. "I am encouraged to see communities working together to strengthen their labor force and raise their graduation rates." 

Appling and Spalding counties completed their Work Ready Certificate goals and successfully met at least the required minimum increase in their county's public high school graduation rate.

The new Certified Work Ready Communities achieved the following:             

• Appling: 638 Work Ready Certificates earned (217% of goal); increased public high school graduation rate by 13%
   
• Spalding:  2185 Work Ready certificates earned (205% of goal); increased public high school graduation rate by 19% 

To continue their work, each county will receive a $7,000 grant. Their Work Ready Community teams will also receive a two-year membership to their local chamber of commerce. Counties that are certified receive road signs and a seal denoting the year they achieved certification.
  

This news release was originally released from the

Governor's Office of Student Achievement.

Teachers Retirement Workshop

a note from Human Resources

Our Teachers Retirement Workshop is scheduled March 6th from 4pm to 5pm in the GSCS Learning Center. This workshop is for any member of the Teachers Retirement System (not the Public School Retirement System). Please mark your calendar to attend.

If you are within 5 years of retiring, please reserve a time for an individual session on either March 7th or March 8th. We still have slots available.  (You can go online to see what times are available and make your selection.)

To register for either event, follow these easy steps:
1. Visit www.trsga.com.
2. Click on Workshops and Counseling button.
3. Under "How do I sign up?" click on Account Management.
4. Register for and/or log in to your TRS account.
5. Click on Register for Workshop/Counseling.
6. Pick the event and time of your choice. You will receive an automatic e-mail confirmation.

For more information or assistance:

Kathy C. Gossett
Benefits Specialist
770-229-3710 x 353