PAGE Future Georgia Educators Rebounds From Pandemic, Works To Close Gap in Teacher Pipeline

By Dolly Purvis

Future Georgia Educators (FGE), a PAGE initiative for high school students designed to enhance the teacher pipeline in Georgia, witnessed a resurgence – and then some – of activity this year, especially at popular FGE Days.

The uptick in activity resulted from:

• Higher-than-expected attendance

• Expansion to include some college first-year students and sophomores in a pilot project PAGE developed with Dr. Judi Wilson, Dean of the Augusta University College of Education and Human Development

• The addition of Georgia State University as an FGE Day site

In 2022-23, FGE Days returned to pre-pandemic-level participation with more than 1,700 high school students attending 10 events around the state. From September through March, students and their FGE advisors traveled to universities to hear thought-provoking keynote speakers, compete in Knowledge Bowl, attend hands-on workshops, and participate in college fairs. FGE would have broken its annual attendance record if Georgia Southern University had not cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.

“We are thrilled that – despite the busing and transportation challenges so many schools are facing – we hosted 1,733 attendees, the second-highest participation ever,” said PAGE FGE coordinator Mary Ruth Ray. “This kind of participation following the pandemic is very encouraging about the future of education in Georgia.”

The “good problem” of higher attendance expressed itself best at Columbus State University. As the day’s attention turned to the Knowledge Bowl, Ray watched as teams approached the reserved seats at the front of the room. Those seats filled up, but many more teams than planned wanted to join in. Eventually, more than a dozen teams made room for each other to participate.

In addition to Augusta University, Columbus State, and Georgia State, colleges sponsoring FGE Days were Georgia Southwestern State University, University of North Georgia, Georgia Gwinnett College, Valdosta State University, University of West Georgia, University of Georgia, and Middle Georgia State University.

“The generous outpouring of support we receive from these colleges of education makes FGE Day accessible to all of Georgia’s high school stu- dents, and we appreciate very much their commitment to developing our future Georgia educators – even before they’ve decided where they will earn their degree,” Ray said.

This year, for the first time, two colleges — Augusta University and the University of West Georgia — included first-year students and sophomores in FGE Day activities to bridge the gap in the teacher pipeline that exists between high school graduation and admission into teacher preparation programs. West Georgia added the component to its FGE Day after hearing a presentation from Ray and Dr. Wilson at the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (GACTE) fall conference.

Because of the early success of the strategy, Ray says PAGE hopes to expand the program to other universities next year.

“All of the colleges of education and PAGE are very interested in ensuring that becoming a teacher remains top of mind with students from the time they declare their major as an incoming freshman until the time they enter their teacher preparation program as a junior,” said Ray. “Dr. Wilson at Augusta University and her colleagues are paving the path toward achieving this goal, and early signs indicate that this new initiative will help keep students in the teacher pipeline.”

Finally, FGE’s expansion to Georgia State University meant nearly 150 high school students had the opportunity to interact with one of the state’s few downtown, urban colleges of education.

“The Georgia State College of Education and Human Development gave us one more thing to cheer about this year,” Ray added. “Producing more than 400 educators every year, Georgia State plays a vibrant role in training Georgia teachers and adding it to the FGE Day schedule bolstered our efforts this year substantially.” n