Education in Georgia embraces new ideas to deliver the best, most progressive practices in learning. Businesses in Georgia find a solid educational system that serves their employees’ children today and develops a well-prepared workforce for tomorrow.
It all begins with the state’s early childhood education program, rated one of the most successful in the nation by Education Week. In 1993, Georgia became the first state to offer its residents universal Pre-K, a program that studies have shown increases graduation rates, lowers welfare dependency and reduces incarceration rates. More than one million children have completed Georgia’s free Pre-K program since it began.
At the K-12 level, Georgia has paved the way for new approaches to education. The state enables entire school systems, as well as individual schools, to obtain charter status so that they can determine how best to serve their communities. Georgia has 170 charter schools and 8 charter school systems.
A $400 million Race to the Top grant will enable continued innovation and reform in 26 school districts that have partnered with the state. These districts will see new initiatives aimed at better preparing students for college and the workplace.
Already, Georgia schools have made important achievements, including:
- Georgia ranks third in the nation for the use of technology in schools, according to Education Week.
- The state ranks No. 7 in the U.S. for the number of International Baccalaureate schools, with 58 schools participating in the IB World Schools program.
- Georgia has adopted the new, national Common Core State Standards for math and language arts, which establish clear and consistent learning goals across all schools.
- Gifted and talented education is a required offering in all school systems, and the systems receive state allocations to support gifted services.
- Middle schools and high schools offer career and technical education to better prepare non-college track students for jobs.
- Continuing education through public universities, with courses and certifications available in a variety of disciplines, from technology to management, and enterprise innovation to foreign language.