Educators discuss a Vision for Georgia students

Johnna Pinholster The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — A discussion on how to transform education in Georgia was held Thursday night at Lowndes High School.

Sponsored by the Georgia School Boards Association and the Georgia School Superintendents Association, A Vision for Public Education in Georgia seeks to expand the scope of learning in the state through community conversations.

The discussion in the Lowndes High School media center is one of several planned throughout the state this year.

“We are setting a vision for public education in Georgia,” said Laura Reilly, director of communications for the Georgia School Boards Association.

Teachers, school administrators, superintendents, school board members, parents, students and community members from the city of Valdosta, Tifton, Lowndes County, Bacon County, Colquitt County, Ware County and other places broke into small focus groups to discuss what they hoped the education system in Georgia will look like in 2015.

Before getting started with the group discussion, Dr. Bill Barr, education consultant, brought down the goals of A Vision for Public Education in Georgia.

Barr said he and others realized that many reports coming out concerning education were written by well-meaning and informed individuals but they were not the people working within the school systems or sending their children to the schools.

“We wanted to create a new vision from a local perspective,” Barr said.

These public information sessions will be translated into a report that will be released in the fall outlining ideas for where education in Georgia should go. 

In this economic climate, which Barr said he didn’t see improving anytime soon, it is imperative that people have a sense of urgency about education.

Schools, now more than ever, are having to take a hard look at the things that add value to education and do away with things that do not, he said.

A Vision for Public Education in Georgia plans to look at several key areas which include: teaching, learning, assessment, supports for early learning and student success, human and organizational capital, governance, leadership, accountability, climate, culture, organizational efficacy, financial resources and physical resources.

“We want to improve educational opportunities for all,” Barr said. The groups discussed how education would look in 2015 by being instructed to imagine that at that time Georgia’s education system had been named best in the world, Reilly said.

To earn that distinction, Reilly asked, what would the Georgia education system need to achieve?

This created a flurry of discussion about how to create the best education system for the state.

One person expressed the need to better transmit the value and importance of education to  students.

Many of the groups discussed a future classroom without textbooks, with students access information from personal computers or even other devices such as the recently released i-Pad or an i-Pod Touch. Foreign language classes at the elementary school level was also given great importance in a variety of groups.

Creating community schools, where the schools are an institute and hub for learning for people of all ages was discussed as well.

“Pre-k for some and not for all is absolutely ridiculous,” another man said.

Another gentleman discussed the possibility of schools and school systems seeking funding from private corporations. The need for corporate support will become greater as technology progresses and the state struggles to balance its budget while providing for education, he said.

Others discussed the possibility of a less structured school day and students of different ages working together on projects that interest them rather than projects specific to a grade level.

A woman in one group said there is a need for students to get more real world experience.

Schools need to cultivate relationships with community businesses so students have a chance to get out in the workplace and utilize the information they are learning in the classroom.

For more information about A Vision for Public Education in Georgia, visit the Web site www.visionforpubliced.org.

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