2. A Signature Partnership Product

3. (4) To Elect or Appoint? Regarding the State School Superintendent (9) Equity in Education – Access and Opportunity (1) High Standards – The Value of a High School Diploma (2) Assessments – How Much is Too Much? (3) District Governance – Charter Systems, IE 2, or Status Quo? (5) Funding Reform – How Do We Divide the Pie? (6) Early Learning – Challenge Accepted! (7) Post-Secondary Success – The Key to Georgia’s Workforce (8) Charter Schools – New Challenges (10) Race to the Top – Now What? Top Ten Issues - 2015

4. How is Georgia Trending? Low-Birthweight Babies ≈ Students Earning AP Credit  Early Education Enrollment ≈ High School Graduation Rate  Children in Poverty  Adults with Associate’s Degree or Higher  4 th Grade Reading  Adults with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher  8 th Grade Math 

5. Issue 6: Early Learning– Challenge Accepted! Quality + Quantity = full benefits of early learning 1.Established Quality Rated 2.Implemented Georgia Early Learning Development Standards 3.Provided resources for statewide family and community engagement grants 4.Expanded center-based home visitation programs for family, friend and neighbor care 5.Increased professional development of early care educators 6.Developed comprehensive assessment system for early learning

6. Early Learning Challenge Grant

7. Early Education Empowerment Zones – E3Zs  Receive $1 million in targeted resources  Develop infrastructure to strengthen early learning systems  Identify sustainable and replicable implementation strategies that can be scaled statewide

8. Issue 7: Post-Secondary Success – The Key to Georgia’s Workforce 72% high school graduation rate 60% of jobs in 2020 will require some higher education 42% of Georgian’s currently have some education beyond high school

9. Action Steps for Georgia  Career Clusters  Complete College Georgia – including STEM initiatives and “Go- Back, Move Ahead”  High Demand Career Initiative  Strategic-Industries Workforce Development Grants  Zell Miller Grants

10. Questions Welcome Now & Anytime! Dana Rickman Director, Policy and Research drickman@gpee.org 404.223.2462