Fayette Honored for Excellence in Economic Education

Fayette County Schools has received the state's highest recognition for being a leader in K-12 economic education.

The Georgia Council on Economic Education has awarded the system its Economic Education Program of Excellence for comprehensive system-wide implementation of economic education at all grade levels. The selection committee cited two factors that lead to the county receiving the award: the dedication of Fayette's teachers and the exemplary leadership of Social Studies Coordinator Cathy Geis.

The council defines an exemplary program as one that is based on a curriculum of framework consistent with the National Council on Economic Education Curriculum Framework and Georgia Council on Economic Education guidelines. It recognizes complete programs that encourage articulation, balance of content, a variety of teaching strategies and the involvement of teachers, students and the community.

For an economics program to receive the award, teachers must show expertise in the curriculum they teach, participate in all aspects of the development of the curriculum and show sound instructional theory and practice in the implementation of the program. The curriculum must be guided by clearly stated goals and objectives, based on sound scholarship from the content of economics, related appropriately to the age, maturity, interests and needs of the students, incorporate effective instructional strategies that engage students in learning and set high expectations for students and use of a variety of systematic measures to evaluate student performance. And, students must be able to examine content, issues and events from a variety of perspectives, demonstrate comprehensive decision making and active participation in school, community and world and show an understanding of democratic principals and participation in the democratic process as they affect the economic system.

This marks the second time in five years that the school system has received the excellence award. The award was given in 2003 for the Mini-Society program.