Category: Securing Atlanta’s Future

By Rebecca Parshall, PhD Learn4Life (L4L) recently released the 6th annual State of Education in Metro Atlanta. The report highlights three focus areas: our region’s educational data, how to use data as a flashlight, and some of the strategies that are improving outcomes for traditionally underserved students. The data can help all stakeholders play a […]

By GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students One Saturday morning in November, GEEARS’ Pre-K Recruitment Specialist Dawan Barfield stood before a meeting room at the Dean Rusk YMCA Head Start Academy. With his characteristic warmth and ease, he welcomed tables full of volunteers, who smiled back at him over boxed breakfasts.  “Let’s start […]

By David Jernigan, President & CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta FAMILY HOLDS CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR 12-YEAR-OLD KILLED NEAR ATLANTIC STATION 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL SHOT TO DEATH AT CLAYTON COUNTY PARTY ATTENDED BY HUNDREDS APS’S STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL GIVES CALL TO ACTION DURING RALLY TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE With more than three dozen young […]

By GEEARS As the state agency responsible for meeting the child care and early education needs of Georgia’s children and their families, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is constantly looking for ways to improve the experiences of our state’s youngest students.  In the late 2000s, a series of independent studies found […]

By Damian Ramsey  The College Bound Partnership: Making College More Affordable  The government sets aside funds each year to help students pay for postsecondary education, but too often students are unable to access them. In fact, $2B+ is left unclaimed annually. Why? Because the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is intensely complicated, especially […]

By Comer Yates, Executive Director, Atlanta Speech School Just before the start of this school year, I had the privilege of serving as the closing speaker at the Alabama Early Childhood Education Conference, the theme of which was the “Measure of Tomorrow.” The new school year was on the immediate horizon, and the teachers had […]

By GEEARS  These days, the topic of mental health seems to be everywhere. In the wake of the pandemic, medical practitioners, educators, and government leaders are all freshly aware of mental health challenges and the imperative that we incorporate their treatment into everyday healthcare.   Yet, the public still has some catching up to do when […]

By Brooks Robinson Board Director and Technology Advisory Board member of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta and advisor to technology companies and investors including Tech Square Ventures and Engage Technology has transformed how we live and work. The need to continually invest in technology and innovation is critical for companies to remain competitive. […]

By Sharmen M. Gowens, CEO, YWCA of Greater Atlanta More than a century since the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed, giving women the right to vote, women still have concerns about economic security, violence and health care in daily life. The women of Georgia say these issues are top of mind, and they […]

By GEEARS At the GEEARS Candidate Summit on Supporting Children and Families on October 3rd, several of Georgia’s candidates for statewide office spoke directly to voters, particularly those of us who vote with a keen eye on the issues that affect Georgians ages five and under. The two-hour program at Georgia Public Broadcasting was a […]

By Julian Arias, Vice President, JA Discovery Center Experience’ It’s now nearly six weeks into the new school year. Long enough for students to be back in classrooms and settling into their new routines, but not quite long enough to be counting down until summer again. Today’s educators are challenged with connecting with students who […]

The Nation’s Report Card from 2022, also known as the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), confirmed the significant learning loss many of us feared in the wake of the pandemic. While this “pandemic learning loss” is disconcerting, NAEP data in 2019 (before the pandemic) revealed that most American children–across every demographic–are not proficient readers […]

By Rebecca Parshall, PhD It’s becoming an all too familiar story: teachers are leaving the profession at high rates, entering at low rates, and many school districts are struggling to fill open positions. And it’s no surprise as to why. A recent RAND study found that, nationally, teachers experience two times as much “frequent, job-related […]

We came, we read, and we gave away a lot of books at a lot of enriching programs. The Mayor’s Summer Reading Club’s tenth season ended last month. Let us count the ways the bookish summer thrilled us:  All summer long, we could tell that MSRC books were about more than helping young children fight […]

By Larry Patrick, Partner – PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP & Board Governance Committee Chair & Chair-Elect of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta  I joined the Board of Directors for Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA) in 2015, however my involvement with the Club spans decades. I am the Club’s realized potential. It is […]

When the reconciliation package made its way through the House last November, it contained a $400 billion investment in early childhood education. We felt so hopeful at that time.  But the reconciliation package (now known as the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA) was signed into law on August 16th with these critical funds cut completely. […]

By The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy  Over the next weeks, early childhood teachers will welcome a new group of children to their classrooms. Current demographics show that an increasing number of these children will be dual language or multilingual learners – children learning and developing in two or more languages.   Picture Valentina, a […]

by Ken Zeff, Ed.D  Georgia Milestones data for the 2021-22 school year was released last week, and as expected, the data revealed that educational recovery is underway, but at this pace, it will take years to return to pre-pandemic achievement levels. And lest we forget, pre-pandemic levels still served far too few students. While Milestones […]

 By GEEARS & United Way of Greater Atlanta Last month, quarterback Matt Ryan, a virtual Mayor Andre Dickens, and a host of community members and children cut the ribbon on a new learning space at the Simpson Street Church of Christ. The Simpson Street Learning Space is a free community play and learn program serving […]

By Helene G. Lollis In 2002 after declining another corporate relocation, I took a package from my Fortune Global 50 employer and bought a small business.  I vividly remember sharing the news with my family, expecting reactions of surprise, but receiving instead commentary that they’d “always assumed” I would be a business owner someday, echoing […]