(January 30) We have had some interesting media work this week.  Twanda Black at Kiss 104.1 interviewed Steve Dolinger and Dana Rickman about the Top 10 report.  This will be broadcast in February on her Sunday morning community affairs program.  Scott Slade invited Steve on the Monday evening live "Lawmakers" program on Georgia Public TV.  We will post a link to that as soon as it is available.

(January 23)    Last week was a BIG week here as we conducted our sixth annual Media Symposium on Friday.  Big crowd and great presenters made it one of our best.  Check out relating stories on the Media Symposium page.  The much anticipated annual Top Ten Issues to Watch report has been released and is now available. Much ahead this week including a Top Ten report presentation to the House and Senate education committees on Thursday.  Steve Dolingerwill  attend a state conference on Race to the Top in Macon and Dana Rickman will talk education issues with the Black Conservative Summitt at the State Capitol.

(January 10) We  have opened our Legislature 2012 page on the web site.  Here you will find media reports from around the state on education issues being debated in the General Assembly.  You will also find links for analysis from a variety of perspectives.  Education Week's annual Quality Counts report lists Georgia #7 in the nation.  This is good news and is proof we are going in the right direction but as Superintendent Barge says, we still have much work to do.  Planning continues for the Media Symposium on January 20.  We are anxiously awaiting the 2012 Top Ten report which will be available after the Symposium.  Steve Dolinger is in Washington this week at a national Grant Makers Conference.  Dana Rickman is participating with Voices for Georgia's Children in an ed policy review for the state's Congressional delegation.  Watch soon for the Education Policy Tool Box on our web page.  Busy, busy!

Happy New Year (January 3) The  break was nice but now it's time to get rolling.  The Media Symposium awaits on January 20.  The final agenda is about done.  Formal invites will go out this week.  The 2012 Top Ten will be going to the printer soon and will be released at the Symposium. Did you know 2012 is the Partnership's 20th year?  There will be more on this later.  Time to get to work!

(December 19) The agenda is   almost set for the Media Symposium to be held January 20 at Georgia Public Broadcasting.  The Top Ten Issues to Watch report for 2012 is in its final stage of editing and will be released at the symposium.  Partnership offices will be closed December 26 - January 2. 

(November 28) Steve Dolinger presented the Economics of Education briefing to the Georgia Association of School Personnel Administrators at St. Simons.  Work on the 2012 Top Ten Issues to Watch report continues.  The 2012 budget is being crafted, work is ongoing on the Bus Trip 19 video, and planning continues for the 6th annual Media Symposium in January. 

(November 21) Although  this is a short holiday week, work continues on several fronts: The November 15 Forum is now available on videotape; the Bus Trip 19 page continues to be expanded; work on the Bus Trip 19 videotape is underway; the 2012 Top Ten Issues to Watch publication is nearing completion; planning is underway for the 2012 Media Symposium; and more work is being done for the Partnership's 20th anniversary year observance.  This is just a sampling.  There's more, much more!

(October 31) What  a great Bus Trip we had.  We visited achieving schools in three days.  Two bus loads of riders as well as site visitors made this a very podctive trip.  Visit the Annual Bus Trip page for details, under "Programs."  Photos will be posted soon.  While several of us caught up others attended a Columbia Group meeting in Nashville.  Final plans are being made for our next Foum November 15.  Check the Forum page under "Programs."

(Week of October 24)  Three words... On the road.  We hit the road Tuesday morning and will visit eight great schools over the next three days.  We'll report as soon as we can.

(Week of October 17)  Two words... Bus Trip.  Although there are many other things going on, this has the focus as last minute preparations are made.  This annual effort involves the entire staff.  The trip will commence next Tuesday October 25 - 27).  The Policy Committee met last week and made recommendations for the 2012 Top Ten Issues to Watch list.  Work on this project will begin soon.

(Week of October 10) The Partnership team conducted its annual strategic retreat evaluating past performance and looking ahead to future challenges.  Final preparations are underway for Bus Trip 19, October 25 - 27.  The application process has closed.  Topic selection/research/writing for the Top Ten Issues for 2012 report is underway.

(Week of October 3)  President Steve Dolinger visited the National Governor's Assn. conference in Philadelphia earlier this month and presented the findings from the Partnership's latest report, "The Commonalities of Georgia's Successful Middle Schools."  He later participated in an editorial board meeting at the AJC with members of the Voices for Georgia's Children team as they discussed key issues during Georgia Pre-K Week. Bus Trip #19 planning entered the crunch period with just a few weeks remaining until we visit eight great Georgia schools.

(Week of September 26) - Three members of the team participated in the PIE-Network (Policy Innovators in Education) annual summit in Washington State this week.  The application process continued for Bus Trip 19.  Work continues on a variety of projects including prelminary work on the Top Ten Issues to Watch in 2012.

We certainly are honored to have Georgia Teacher of the Year Jadun McCarthy on our Board of Directors.  Jadun was featured recently on the CBS This Morning program.  He was also mentioned in an AJC story about alternative teaching certifications.  Jadun was photographed for the article while participating in the recent Partnership Board meeting.  The AJC did not post this story on their web site. 

The second Partnership Forum was conducted August 24.  We had a good crowd as we focused on the middle grades.  We released our new report Commonalities of Georgia's Successful Middle Schools.  Here are the details. The following day, Steve Dolinger moderated Business to Business Magazine's annual education forum that looked at ways the business community can make a bigger impact with its support and expertise.

We have just established the Georgia Partnership You Tube Channel. We have two items posted there.  First is a short (3+ minutes) report on Bus Trip 18 that also serves as a nice promo for Bus Trip 19 coming in October.  You will also find the video of our recent Forum held April 19.  It is broken into short segments.  Give it a look.

The first Partnership Forum of the year was held Tuesday (April 19).  Here is the video report of the event.  Atlanta Journal-Constitution education columnist Maureen Downey attended and filed this story.  Forum topic:  "Bold Moves Needed for Post-Secondary Education... From College Access to Completion."

Steve Dolinger appeared April 4 on Georgia Public Television's Prime Time Politics. Race to the Top was the topic as Dolinger was joined by Teresa MacCartney, Implementation Director for RTTT at the Georgia Department of Education, and host Scott Slade.  If you missed it, you can watch the interview here.

Georgia Public Broadcasting's Prime Time Politics featured the Partnership's Steve Dolinger and the Georgia Association of Educator's President Calvine Rollins in a February discussion of a variety of K-12 issues.  If you missed it, here's the link.