Message From Our
Executive Director
A solid foundation for a bold future. 2017 was a year of intense focus and preparation as we look ahead to GLISI’s next chapter and the future we envision—one where every school in Georgia creates joy, unleashes potential, and inspires enthusiastic learning. We believe teacher and leader teams hold the key to making this vision a reality for the 1.6 million students we serve.
Several data points that motivated our team to rethink, refine, and redesign our support include:
- 80% of Georgia’s 8th graders living in poverty scored below proficient as readers
- 47% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years
- Over two-thirds of teachers indicate they would not encourage their students to pursue a teaching career
These data affirm the need for GLISI to teach new skills, challenge old paradigms, and encourage teams of teachers and leaders to push one another towards new ways of leading and learning.
Our aspirations are high and our hopes audacious, which is why I’m thrilled to share this visual map of our year in review with you, our stakeholders. As we look ahead to the future, we accomplished some critical goals and celebrated pivotal milestones to strengthen, stabilize, and prime our team for impact, including:
- Expanding our reach and impact statewide, in service to many of Georgia’s most vulnerable students;
- Refining our approach to training, coaching, and technical assistance in support of positive culture shifts in three rural school systems;
- Redesigning core services like Base Camp and Leadership Summit and Aspiring Leaders to reflect emerging research on how adults develop expertise;
- Distilling key learning from a 3-year, proof-of-concept partnership called Implementation Consulting, to maximize our impact on school culture, leader behavior, instruction, and student outcomes;
- Celebrating the legacy of Gale Hulme, GLISI’s outgoing Executive Director, and cementing her commitment to excellence and exceptional leadership into the organization’s DNA.
I invite you to explore the report further to learn more about the achievements of GLISI and the 1,200 leaders and 550,000 students we served in 2017. The future for GLISI and the teachers, leaders and students we serve is bright. Join us as we forge ahead in building strong leaders who transform lives.
Leslie Hazle Bussey, Ph.D.
Executive Director