Recommendations

Family Engagement
[ Print Version of All Family Engagements Recommendations ]

  1. In order to promote the academic achievement and success of all students and address the holistic needs of children and families living in poverty, we recommend the establishment of Family Engagement/Comprehensive Community in Schools Models in Clarke County Schools with high poverty rates.

    This model would include a family support center with a full time coordinator in every high poverty school. These centers would support the wellbeing of parents and families as well as their participation in every facet of their child's education and development from birth to adulthood.

    We would recommend that a Community Board be developed to determine the focus and partners for Community Schools that provide Family Support. This Community Board will be made up of parents, a representative from each of the PPA Committees (to help assure comprehensive service delivery), school system representative, as well as other community groups interested in developing the Community in Schools model in Clarke County. This Board, in cooperation with Clarke County Schools, would determine the ongoing organizational structure of the schools. Read more...
     

  2. Develop a comprehensive communication strategy to share information about schools and the community that includes parents, schools, and the community. Read more...

Related recommendations from other working sessions/website:

  1. Implement customer friendly, one-stop resource centers to coordinate services for individuals and families, allowing more resources (including staffing) to be used for direct services to the people who need them. Working with Community Connection-211, services to be coordinated and collaborative would include both public (DFCS, Department of Labor, Public Health, Advantage, School District early learning and other programs, Athens Tech, et al.) and private (Healthy Families, Athens Neighborhood Health Center, Catholic Social Services, mentoring, homeless services, et al.). Read more...
     
  2. Provide parenting opportunities that focus on providing resources and support to parents. Read more...
     
  3. Implement comprehensive Fatherhood Programs focused on promoting student achievement through:
    1. Increasing the engagement of fathers and other primary male caregivers with their children and schools;
    2. Providing ongoing professional development to staff working with families to understand how to engage fathers and male caregivers within complex and diverse family configurations.

    Read more...
     

  4. Provide a Meta-Learning Center to help families achieve life-long learning opportunities. Read more...
     
  5. Use social workers (community and school) to deal with truancy and family problems that result in truancy. Read more...
     
  6. An emphasis needs to be placed on developing strong families and providing good role models. Read more...
     
  7. Provide school based and district wide parenting opportunities that
    1. Focus on providing resources and support to parents;
    2. Are comprehensive and coordinated in nature; and that
    3. Result in higher student achievement.

    Read more...


Early Childhood
[ Print Version of All Early Childhood Recommendations ]

  1. Early Childhood Learning Objective I: Increase access to high quality early care and learning programs for children living in poverty and near poverty. Read more...

    Recommendations for Objective I:

    1. Educate the community about the need for quality early care and learning programs for all children.
       
    2. Increase financial assistance for child care.
      1. Advocate for increased federal funding for child care.
      2. Create "Hope" Scholarships for Babies.
      3. Seek employer support for child care for their employees (collaborate with the PPA-Work Force Committee regarding employer support for child care, research ways in which employers can do this, support development of child care center at UGA for employees/faculty).
      4. Seek support from faith communities for child care for children living in poverty or near poverty and/or for children of their parishioners
         
    3. Increase number of high quality private early care and learning centers and homes
      1. Provide training followed by on-site technical assistance to improve quality.
      2. Ask UGA and Athens Tech to find faculty and graduate students willing to volunteer free professional development for child care settings serving low income children.
      3. Encourage civic clubs and faith communities to "adopt" early care and learning centers and homes and provide resources to improve the program/facility and to cover costs of seeking accreditation.
         
    4. Preserve and expand government-funded programs (Early Head Start, Head Start, pre-K) to serve all eligible children in the community.
       
    5. Provide Head Start for 3-year olds
       
    6. Develop an annual agenda for early childhood development in the Athens area. This agenda could include:
      1. Legislation and/or school policies that need to be addressed
      2. Funding needs and where the funding can come from
      3. Invite elected officials to events at early childhood sites and share our agenda with them and ask for their support
      4. Maintain ongoing contact with our elected officials to help assure their ongoing support
         
  2. Early Childhood Learning Objective II: Increase the supply of programs that are effective in developing parenting skills and behaviors that promote healthy early child development in all developmental areas to facilitate children's success in school and life. Read more...

    Recommendations for Objective II:
     

    1. Educate the community about the need for opportunities for parents to enhance their parenting skills and for adult education.
       
    2. Support the continuation and expansion of comprehensive family literacy programs such as Even Start. (See note below for a description of Even Start.)
       
    3. Increase accessibility of effective parent education programs; preserve the best practices of Even Start within these programs
      1. Expand the adult education, family literacy, and parenting skills components of Early Head Start, Head Start, and other early care and learning programs.
      2. Write a grant for the new federal Reading First Program and supplement the best practices it excludes by partnering with others in the community to offer adult education and family engagement.
      3. Build a core of advocates who will work to secure funding for adult education and parenting skills programs.
         
    4. Increase supply of effective programs for addressing challenges to parenting such as lack of education and job skills, homelessness, chemical dependency, teen parenthood, mental illness and domestic violence.
    5. Develop a Family Mentoring Program with emphasis on supporting parents from birth.
    6. Develop a nurturing environment in Clarke County for young children and their families through provision of mentoring and faith-based initiatives.

     

  3. Ask UGA and Athens Tech to find faculty and graduate students willing to volunteer free professional development for child care settings serving low income children. This could be assistance with the development of family literacy programs or in professional development of the staff. Read more...
     
  4. Develop a Family Mentoring Program with an emphasis on supporting parents, with and without disabilities, and their children, with and without disabilities, from birth on. Read more...

 


New Models
[ Print Version of All New Models Recommendations ]
 

  1. Athens Clarke County School System develop a K-8 Neighborhood School Model. Read more...
     
  2. Create a K-8 Neighborhood School at Chase Street School to promote educational cohesion, increase student achievement, encourage neighborhood engagement and build a strong community of life long learners. Read more...
     
  3. Develop a Bio-Science K-8 magnet or charter school. Read more...
     
  4. Organize a meeting with Athens Clarke County School System, Athens Technical College, and the University of Georgia to develop the most effective means of incorporating a strong area of focus in the biosciences within the existing Career Academy. This could also involve hosting the facility at a location other than the Athens-Clarke County High School campus. Read more...
     
  5. Athens Clarke County School System and the University of Georgia pursue an Early College Program. Read more...
     
  6. Explore an Early College Program beginning at 7th grade. Read more...
     
  7. Implement a Charter School Forum to introduce the charter school concept and investigate charter schools as a possible tool for improving public education in Athens. Read more...
     
  8. Implement a Charter Montessori School. Read more...
     
  9. Explore the possibility of a Bi-Lingual charter school. Read more...
     
  10. Create a 3 yrs. to first grade community school that would grow through fifth grade. The school would focus on developing language and would be operated as a community charter school. Read more...
     
  11. Look at Magnet Schools, with a focus on parental involvement, as an option as we seek new public education solutions. Read more...
     
  12. Implement a comprehensive remedial reading program, with comprehensive teacher training, for all students beginning in fourth grade who do not meet CRCT expectations. Recommended comprehensive programs include Corrective Reading, Wilson, and Language!. Read more...
     
  13. Implement a comprehensive (elementary through high school) Junior Achievement Program in Clarke County. Read more...
     
  14. Seek web-focused entrepreneurship opportunities in order to introduce students to tap into the global economy. Read more...
     
  15. Explore opportunities to improve the Juvenile Justice System and Criminal Justice System as they relate to education and poverty. Read more...
     
  16. Study the reasons why UGA education graduates choose to stay in Athens or go elsewhere. Read more...
     
  17. Explore Teach For America as a possible source for teachers in Clarke County. Read more...
     
  18. Develop incentives to recruit and retain high quality teachers in Athens Clarke County. Read more...
     
  19. Explore the merits of using the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education's strategic planning process for school improvement (www.GPEE.org) as a possible tool to guide our strategic planning efforts, incorporating the education /workforce development recommendations derived through the PPA initiative. Read more...
     
  20. In career development programs, use GACollege411.org as a career development/ management tool, beginning no later than the middle school grades. Note that plans to further expand the scope of GACollege411.org are being considered, and, eventually, this could be used to by all students as soon as they enter school and maintained indefinitely, facilitating a life-long learning process. Read more...
     
  21. Develop a Boarding School to serve students who are at-risk of dropping out of school. Read more...
     
  22. Explore vouchers as a means of reallocating public education dollars. Read more...
     
  23. Have an open enrollment policy in public universities for Georgia high school graduates. Read more...
     
  24. Provide education programs and counseling to prison/jail inmates. Read more...
     
  25. Incorporate Green Principles as new schools are built in Athens. Read more...
     

Related recommendations from other working sessions/website:

  1. To aggressively confront negative/destructive icons, images and life-style choices that lead to the adoption of behaviors and mindsets that discourage personal responsibility, perseverance, self-discipline, good citizenship, respect for self and others, and a recognition of the importance of education. This recommendation would include an education program focusing on the advantages of working hard in school, waiting to have children after marriage, staying away from drugs, etc. In comparison, statistical material focusing on the results of poor life choices including the effects of father absent homes would also be made available. Churches, schools, community groups, and individual role models could work together to develop programs and strategies to implement this recommendation. Read more...

 


Career Development
[ Print Version of All Career Development Recommendations ]

  1. Provide ACC students with broader exposure to career and college choices at an earlier (i.e. elementary school) age. Read more...

Related recommendations from other working sessions/website:

  1. Ensure all ACC students have access to post secondary education. Read more...
     
  2. Develop a comprehensive vo-tech, life skills, career development program for all students starting at an early age. An emphasis would be placed on the Chamber playing a proactive role and empowering employers to develop programs to address real workforce needs. Read more...
     
  3. Provide more workforce planning for students with employers coming into the classrooms as well as providing real work internships. Read more...
     
  4. Provide a comprehensive Career Pathways program in our schools which would include collaboration with employers to provide apprenticeship opportunities for students. Read more...
     

K - 12
[ Print Version of All K - 12 Recommendations ]
 

  1. Provide professional learning that promotes reflective practice and cultural proficiency to help educators connect diverse students and families to learning. Read more...
     
  2. Implement a Teacher/Mentoring Program. Read more...
     
  3. Provide professional learning that would encourage teachers getting advanced degrees as well as support with behavior management strategies. Read more...
     
  4. The faculty of Athens Clarke County Schools be solicited for a wide-ranging list of the critical needs as to what these teachers need to do their teaching jobs better. Read more...
     
  5. Develop a supportive administration to help increase the longevity of teachers in Athens. Read more...
     
  6. Develop a nurturing environment in Clarke County for young children and their families. Read more...
     
  7. (1) Increase assistance for students under the current Five Graduation Test Requirement, and (2) Work to level the playing field between Georgia and other states. Read more...
     
  8. Lobby the legislature to reduce the number of graduation tests. Read more...
     
  9. Secure permanent funding to support after-school and summer programs so parents don't have to pay the $6/per day/per child fee, which prohibits many struggling students from getting the extra instructional time they need. Read more...
     
  10. Secure permanent funding to support community based and other after-school and summer programs such as The Athens Tutorial Program so parents don't have to pay the $6/per day/per child fee, which prohibits many struggling students from getting the extra instructional time they need. The Athens Tutorial Program has provided free after-school community-based tutorial services for low-income at-risk students for the past twenty-five years. Read more...
     
  11. Develop a partnership between the Clarke County School District, Athens Clarke County Regional Library, and UGA's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication to create "catch-up and keep-up" curricula that will bridge one school year with the next. These video programs will be shown on Channel 16 during summers. Read more...
     
  12. All school students of Athens Clarke County School System wear uniforms consisting of khaki slacks or skirts and knit shirts with collars in white or yellow or blue. Read more...
     
  13. Develop K-12 reading intervention strategies that work. Read more...
     
  14. Every student in Athens/Clarke County schools should participate in high quality service-learning each year as an integral part of his/her education experience. The Clarke County Community should partner with the Clarke county schools in identifying topics and issues that students can work on while using their academic learning to help make improvements in our town. To do this well, service learning must be incorporated into the curriculum via school board policy, financial and instructional support, ongoing professional development, and partnerships with community agencies. Read more...
     
  15. Provide Peer-Tutoring as a component of service learning. Read more...
     
  16. Work with the Public Library System to expand its role in providing support for public education. Read more...
     
  17. Survey counselors and school personnel to determine what type of kid drops out of school; also survey graduates to find out what motivated them to finish. Read more...
     
  18. UGA College of Education analyze the dropout rate/pattern in Athens Clarke County schools. Read more...
     
  19. Rethink and Revamp retained classes. Read more...
     
  20. Provide on-going communication with families on how they can help their children with schooling. Read more...
     
  21. Involve students in "grassroots" efforts to develop/implement recommendations -- give them a venue to use their schooling (i.e. applied learning). Read more...
     
  22. Implement a Big Sister/Big Brother Program in High School. Read more...
     
  23. Develop a broader scope of positive leisure activities for children (i.e. chess, checkers, tennis, golf, photography, bee-keeping, woodworking, cooking, shop, etc.) Read more...
     
  24. Encourage perfect attendance by providing a car (by lottery) to a student who achieves this goal. Read more...
     

Related recommendation from other committee:

  1. Partners for a Prosperous Athens consider setting up Plaza Comunitaria's in several locations in Athens, in addition to the one now functioning in Pinewood. Read more...
     
  2. Support efforts by the Clarke County Parent Advisory Board to pursue cost effective efforts to provide Drivers Education for eligible (16 years old and above) students in Clarke County. Read more...
     
  3. Offer the option of participation in the Teacher Retirement System to classified plant services and other staff. Read more...
     
  4. Utilize the PPA Education Committee to assist and work collaboratively with the co-conveners, PPA committees and other participating community members and organizations in the development of implementation and evaluation strategies for adopted recommendations. Read more...
     
  5. Align PPA recommendations, implementation and evaluation strategies with the District Continuous Improvement Plan, CCSD Improvement Plan, CCSD Multicultural Task Force Recommendations, and other organizational evaluations. Read more...
     

Adult Education/Cont. Ed.
[ Print Version of All Adult Education/Cont. Ed. Recommendations ]
 

  1. Conduct a community-wide needs assessment to determine the educational needs of adults and out of school youth in Athens Clarke County. Read more...
     
  2. Conduct a survey of agencies and services currently being provided to address the educational needs of adults in Athens Clarke County. Read more...
     
  3. Create a community literacy organization, staffed by a paid coordinator, that brings together civic, government, educational, faith-based, and business leadership for the purpose of improving the community's adult literacy and education attainment levels. Read more...
     
  4. Align Adult Education goals with Workforce goals, guided by the Career Pathway model of creating avenues to better jobs. Read more...
     

Related recommendations from other working sessions/website:
 

  1. PPA would support the Adult Literacy Council in its efforts to have Athens become a Certified Literate Community. Read more...
     
  2. PPA would support efforts to coordinate adult education programs in Athens and encourage a coordinated strategy which would include collaboration with Athens Tech, the Adult Literacy Council, Clarke County School System, Athens Clarke County Government, University of Georgia, and the Department of Labor. This strategy would include clearly defined goals. Read more...
     

Mentoring
[ Print Version of All Mentoring Recommendations ]
 

  1. Pursue a Family Mentoring Program to Address the Holistic Needs of a Family. Read more...
     
  2. Develop a Volunteer Center to provide support for quality training, coordination, recruitment, and communication for mentoring and other volunteer agencies in Athens and surrounding areas. Read more...
     
  3. Involve businesses in mentoring students. Read more...
     

Community/Capacity Building Recommendations
[ Print Version of All Community/Capacity Building Recommendations ]
 

  1. Develop leadership programs at the grassroots level to build leadership among parents and communities. Work with existing organizations such as the YMCA, Chamber, Community Centers, etc. This leadership focus would be to achieve a shared vision among all community stakeholders. Read more...
     
  2. Develop programs that focus on cultural awareness and understanding of our different cultures in Athens. Read more...
     
  3. Register 18 year olds to vote when they register for Selective Service. Read more...