Dear Partners, Colleagues and Friends,
 
The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) celebrates another year of meeting its strategic goals of partnering with state agencies and education organizations to support improvements in Georgia’s public schools. GOSA’s partnerships through the Governor’s School Leadership Academy (GSLA) are impacting student success by providing teachers and leaders with tools and resources to support students in school and in virtual environments. This year, GSLA partnered with the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL) to provide coaching to educators participating in GAEL’s aspiring principals program.
 
Through Growing Readers, GOSA has established partnerships with the RESA Network, the Georgia Department of Education and local school districts to support students since 2015. This year, we are excited to add Atlanta Speech School’s Cox Campus as a literacy partner. Growing Readers is training teachers on best practices in reading instruction for K-3 students. In its sixth year of evaluation, our RESA partners are successfully collaborating and delivering consistent, effective professional learning in K-3 literacy instruction to teachers in districts all over Georgia.
 
The Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) is partnering with the Augusta Cybersecurity Center and the Georgia Department of Education to provide the first course aligned with industry needs – cybersecurity and computer. With over 17,000 jobs available in Georgia, GHP wants to create awareness and interest in the many careers available to GHP students in cybersecurity.
 
GOSA is committed to aligning and leveraging partnerships for additional impact. During this Thanksgiving and holiday season, I am personally thankful for GOSA’s passionate and committed staff members, our many amazing partners, Governor Brian Kemp’s guidance, legislative support, and our ability to serve educators and students in all parts of the state.
 
On behalf of GOSA, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season and a blessed 2022!
 
Best,                                                                                             
Joy Hawkins

 

Click here to read the full newsletter online.

     What's Inside:

  • Governor’s Honors Program Featured in the December Georgia Trend - The featured article is about GHP, the 2022 cybersecurity and computer science pilot courses and the many ways Georgia’s brightest and most talented students benefit from the innovative residential summer program. 
     
  • Annual Georgia K-12 Teacher and Leader Workforce Report & Addendum is now available - This report provides a snapshot of the current teacher and leader workforce across the state.
     
  • December 31 is your deadline to collect this State of Georgia benefit, for taxpayers who support innovative public education programs through the Qualified Education Donation tax credit.
     
  • Enjoy a Good Book During the Holidays with a PINES Library Card. Georgia Library PINES (Public Information Network for Electronic Services) is the public library automation and lending network for 300 libraries and affiliated service outlets in 52 library systems covering 146 counties in Georgia.
     
  • The centers of many of our communities are our libraries! That doesn't happen without planning. The Georgia Library Association librarians, library staff and stakeholders participated this month in a day of strategic planning for upcoming years of service.  
     
  • University System of Georgia (USG) Reports Increases in Graduation Rates and Other Student Gains, crediting in part the Momentum Year Initiative.
  • READBowl Registration is now open. Competition begins Jan. 10, with the World Champions of Reading to be crowned on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 13.