Multifaceted solutions key to improve schools

Georgia education stakeholders have been working hard to improve the educational outcomes of our students. Over the past five years, graduation rates have risen, graduation gaps among different subgroups of students have narrowed, and state-funded pre-k is now serving almost 60 percent of students. We have momentum.

To improve schools in Georgia we must think of the whole school, including its context. As a state, we should seek to understand change processes and the systemic nature of improving schools. Three of the most important areas to be addressed are identifying strong leaders, providing well-prepared and resourced teachers, and giving extra support where it is most needed.

It is essential that schools and school systems have leaders who understand systemic change and how to use data to target community workforce requirements. Leaders must be willing to support professional development for their teachers in order to respond to constantly changing environments and institute an effective mentoring system for new teachers.

Training teachers for today’s classrooms and targeting teachers’ professional development needs, including how to provide personalized learning for students, are critical. Students have different strengths, weaknesses and needs. Differentiated instruction can help meet individual student challenges.

Teachers must have the proper resources and support system to ensure their success and the success of their students. The need for ongoing teacher professional development is often undermined because designated funds are characteristically the first cuts made to school system budgets, but this cut limits teachers’ effectiveness.

To truly improve schools, Georgia must look at the entire school ecosystem where learning takes place. A significant portion of Georgia’s children suffer from health challenges, and/ or speak English as a second language and live in communities of concentrated poverty.

More emphasis needs to be placed on the importance of child well-being and its impact on a child’s academic performance. Georgians must discuss how best to serve a growing population of students with special needs, including those that are both academic and health-related.

During the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education’s last Critical Issues Forum, a call was made for Gov. Nathan Deal to lead on this issue as he did with the juvenile justice system and move forward in addressing child mental health and the recommendations of the Final Report of the House Study Committee on Children’s Mental Health, published in November 2015.

The newly-ratified federal education act, “Every Student Succeeds Act,” provides Georgia a tremendous opportunity to establish better and stronger services for students, teachers and leaders. In the next few months, the Department of Education will be holding stakeholder feedback sessions across the state on the new regulations. This is our chance to make Georgia’s future education plan viable, efficient and effective.

There is no magic, one-sizefits-all solution to improve our schools and overall public education system. But we – educators, business, government, civic leaders, as well as parents and other citizens – must seize and maximize every opportunity we are afforded.