Deal announces fourth round winners for Innovation in Teaching

Gov. Nathan Deal today announced eight winners in round four of the Innovation in Teaching Competition, a recognition and reward opportunity for teachers who demonstrate innovative teaching strategies for the Georgia standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. The competition is available through Georgia’s Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program. 

“The Innovation in Teaching Competition allows us the opportunity to recognize some of our state’s best and most deserving teachers,” said Deal. “A quality education often hinges upon the quality of instruction in the classroom, and I am pleased to continue to reward these teachers for their dedication and hard work. I encourage educational leaders to continue to submit the names of teachers who fit the ideals and criteria of the competition to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.”

Each teacher will receive a $2,000 stipend, and each teacher’s school will receive a $5,000 grant for implementation of Georgia’s instructional standards. In addition, Georgia Public Broadcasting will film the winning educators teaching in their classrooms during the 2014-2015 school year, as well as interview them about how they prepared the featured units. The videos, along with the educators’ supplementary materials, will be made available to other educators, parents, institutions of higher education, and other stakeholders through Georgiastandards.org and iTunesU. The videos, unit plans, and supplementary materials from the first three rounds of winners will be available at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.

The eight winners in round four, along with the grade level and subject area(s) of each winning unit, are listed below.

Information about the first, second and third round winners can be found on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement’s website.

Principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, district staff representing schools around the state, as well as GaDOE Teacher and Leader Effectiveness, School Improvement and Curriculum staff, nominated teachers for Round Four of the Innovation in Teaching Competition this spring. 

The Innovation Fund began as a $19.4 million fund under Georgia’s Race to the Top plan. During Race to the Top, the Innovation Fund provided 23 grants to programs focused on providing applied learning opportunities to students, creating teacher and leader induction programs, growing the teacher and leader pipeline, and developing or expanding charter schools. Most of these grantees will receive grant funds through June 30, 2015. To continue the Innovation Fund’s work beyond Race to the Top, Gov. Deal included $5 million in his Fiscal Year 2015 budget that the legislature approved. These funds will be awarded to eligible organizations focused on planning, scaling or implementing innovative education programs focused on the following areas: applied learning with a focus on STEM education, development and replication of blending learning school models, development and replication of innovative resource management models, and teacher and leader induction. The state will also seek contributions from philanthropic organizations, nonprofits and businesses as a continuing source of start-up capital for promising innovations. More information about the Innovation Fund can be found on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement website.