PRESENTERS
• Tim Helms, Director, South West Georgia Regional
Educational Services Agency
• Cyndy Stephens, Director, FOCUS Grant, Georgia
Professional Standards Commission
• Tom Hall, Data Specialist, FOCUS Grant, Georgia
Professional Standards Commission
• Angie Davis, GaTAPP Coordinator, South West Georgia
Regional Educational Services Agency
• Mark Wilson, Consultant and Trainer, FOCUS Grant
Project for South West Georgia area
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
GEORGIA’S FOCUS GRANT PROJECT
• The purpose of FOCUS ON CHANGE IN UNDER-REPRESENTED
STAFF AND STAFFING SYSTEMS (FOCUS) is to provide training
and professional development that will enhance and expand
efforts to develop and maintain a diverse educator workforce in
the State of Georgia.
• FOCUS, is the third USDOE Transition to Teaching grant awarded
to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Each of the
prior grants served to provide a quality educator workforce to
hard to reach and hard to teach school populations statewide
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
EMPHASIS ON DIVERSITY AND EQUITY
• The purpose of Data-Driven Collaborations for Expanding
Diversity in Schools is to demonstrate how a State Education
Agency used data on diversity among STEM, special education,
foreign language, and English Language Learners (ELL) as a
catalyst to stimulate collaborations among Regional Education
Agencies (RESA), Southwest Georgia, Chattahoochee-Flint,
Okefenokee, and Coastal Plains. These RESAs represent 48
school districts, and associated local schools, colleges and
universities, non traditional teacher preparation programs,
technical colleges and other stakeholders. The proposed
presentation is related to two of the NAAC 2014 conference
themes, “Capitalize on partnerships with school districts and
others” and “Meet the need for more diversity in the nation’s
educator workforce”
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
GOALS
 Identify methods for replicating the data used by the Professional
Standards Commission (PSC), through funds made available by the
USDOE Transition to Teaching grants, to create awareness of issues
related to teacher diversity for STEM, special education, foreign language,
and English Language Learner (ELL) teachers
 Replicate in their own geographic areas, strategies used by Southwest
(SWRESA) to stimulate interest in addressing diversity and equity issues
identified by the PSC, among the four adjacent RESAs (Coastal Plains
RESA and First District RESA) and their participating school districts,
colleges and universities, technical colleges, and other community
stakeholders
 Review and revise for their own use, the resulting Professional
Development, symposium series activities and other collaborative services
involving teachers, principals, human resources administrators, central
office leadership, Chambers of Commerce, and other stakeholders
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
South GA P-12 Enrollments
2005-2014
190500
190000
189500
189000
188500
188000
187500
187000
186500
186000
Student Counts
Georgia P-12 Enrollments 2005-2014
(Excluding South GA)
1550000
1500000
1450000
1400000
1350000
1300000
1250000
Student Counts
2015
Total Students
South GA - 188,701
Metro ATL - 325,454
Total Teachers
South GA - 11,850
Metro ATL - 21,199
36%
37%
63%
64%
2015
Total Principals
Total Assistant
Principals
South GA - 317
Metro ATL - 381
South GA - 399
Metro ATL - 912
30%
45%
55%
70%
2015
181
Vocational Directors
Agriculture
Teachers
35
4
SOUTH GA
3
METRO ATL
Georgia’s Agribusiness
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH USDOE TRANSITION TO
TEACHING GRANTS
S
T
E
M
Agricultural Business and Production Technology
Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Business Administration
Communication Technologies
Computer and Informational Sciences
Conservation
Construction Technology
Family and Consumer Science
Life Sciences
Manufacturing Sciences
Mathematics
Mechanical Occupations
Physical Sciences
Precision Production Occupations
Public Health
Science (K-6)
Technology Education
• The Target Area for This Study is South
Georgia: Chattahoochee-Flint, Coastal Plains,
SW GA, and Okefenokee RESAs
x
x
x
x
Questions of Interest addressed …
• What is the current STEM teacher situation in South
Georgia, and what have been the recent trends?
• How does this area compare to the state as a whole
with regard to STEM teachers?
• How do STEM teacher ethnicity and gender
distributions in this region compare to statewide
counts?
• Do STEM teacher ethnicities match the ethnic
makeup of school districts?
Note: “Minority Teachers” will be interpreted as all teachers
not reported as white on the Georgia DOE CPI.
Slight Increase 2012-2014
Slight Decrease 2012-2014
Slight Increase 2012-2014
Target Area Minority STEM
Growth did Not Match
Statewide Growth for
2012-2014
Target Area Minority STEM
Growth did Not Match
Statewide Growth for
2012-2014
Year
Statewide
% Minority
STEM
Teachers
South
GA %
Minority
STEM
Teachers
2012
27.4%
26.0%
8406
980
2013
29.6%
25.5%
9233
933
9.8%
– 4.8%
2014
30.1%
26.2%
9716
928
5.2%
– 0.5%
Statewide
South Georgia
Minority
Minority
STEM Teacher STEM Teacher
Counts
Counts
Statewide
Minority
Annual
STEM
Growth
South GA
Minority
Annual
STEM
Growth
Implication 1:
South Georgia is lagging behind the rest of the state in
these two ways:
a. Growth Rate for STEM teachers
b. STEM minority teacher percentages
Implication 2:
At the present rate of new STEM hires, South Georgia
will have difficulty catching up with STEM percentages
found in other areas of the state.