I have three children in public school. I want the same things for them that I want for every student – an outstanding education.
There are times when I believe we over-complicate what it takes to improve student achievement. At least three things are instrumental in making that happen: Time, talent, and resources.
Due to persistent economic challenges facing our local school districts, many have operated less than the required 180 days. No matter how strong an instructional program may be, or how hard our educators work, we cannot continue to overcome the loss of instructional time. We must restore the 180 instructional days and professional learning days for teachers. It is nothing short of a miracle that our teachers have been able to move the needle on student achievement while facing such extreme challenges.
We know that the strength of the classroom teacher is instrumental in how far a child will advance during the school year. We must continue to attract the most-talented teachers into the profession.
We need to partner with our university system to ensure that teacher education programs are producing first-class educators. Then we must mentor these new teachers by pairing them with master teachers and giving them professional learning opportunities. In addition to attracting new classroom talent, we must support, celebrate and retain talented veteran teachers!
Instructional resources for teachers and parents will play a significant role in improving student achievement. We must harness the power of technology to help our young people succeed. We are greatly expanding high-speed Internet access to all schools.
Improving the number and quality of high school graduates in Georgia is of paramount importance. We must focus on early literacy, where our students are learning to read, and then transition to teaching them how to read to learn. This is a process that begins well before most children enter into public education.
By partnering with Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning and other state agencies, we can work to compensate for what has been called the 30 million-word gap between children living in poverty and their more-affluent peers during the first three years of life. There are new, collaborative strategies developed among agencies that can give our children a better chance at success.
Career pathways are another pivotal piece to improving our graduation rate. Partnering with the university system, the technical college system, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders across Georgia, we have designed career pathways that have rigorous and relevant content to give our graduates the knowledge and skills they need.
I also talk about the curriculum of life. Do the boys and girls who spend 12 years with us become the kind of adults we want leading our country, living in our neighborhoods, dating our sons and daughters?
Yes, we are responsible for helping students perform well in the classroom, but I also want to grow the character and soft skills of our young people because those skills can really help set them apart.
