The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement announced the three winners of the 2018-2019 Innovation in Teaching Competition, a recognition and reward opportunity for Georgia teachers who utilize innovative instructional strategies to advance student achievement. This year’s competition rewarded teachers focused on the blended and personalized learning and applied learning with a focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education priority areas. The competition is available through Georgia’s Innovation Fund, a competitive grant program. 

“The winners of the Innovation in Teaching Competition are model educators for teachers both in Georgia and across the country,” said Rebecca Ellis, Director of Innovation at the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. “We are excited to honor them for their continued dedication to the art of teaching and to their students’ academic achievement, as well as share their resources with educators across the state.”

Each teacher will receive a $5,000 stipend, and each teacher’s school will receive a $10,000 grant to support innovative instructional strategies. In addition, Georgia Public Broadcasting will film each winning educator highlighting and discussing effective instructional strategies, management techniques, and the winning unit. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement will make these videos, along with the unit plans and supplementary materials, available online to other educators, institutions of higher education, and other stakeholders. The videos, unit plans, and supplementary materials from former winners of the competition are available on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website.

The three winners along with the grade level(s), priority area, and subject area(s) of each winning unit are listed below.

Amy Crandall

Fifth grade, Social Studies and Computer Science

Blended & Personalized Learning

Marietta City Schools

Marietta Center for Advanced Academics

Kathleen Lanman

Seventh grade, Life Science

Applied Learning with a Focus on STEAM Education

J.C. Booth Middle School

Fayette County Public Schools

Terra McMillan

Sixth grade, Earth Science

Applied Learning with a Focus on STEAM Education

Thomson Middle School

Houston County Schools

Read summaries of the winning plans.

About the Innovation Fund

The Innovation Fund invests in public education entities that develop and scale programs that enable Georgia educators to improve student performance and tackle our state’s most significant education challenges. In 2011, the Innovation Fund began as a $19.4 million grant competition created under Georgia’s Race to the Top (RT3) Plan. To continue the Innovation Fund’s work beyond RT3, Governor Deal appropriated state funding for Fiscal Years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Since its inception, the Innovation Fund has invested more than $38 million of state and federal funding through grants to school districts, charter schools, postsecondary institutions and nonprofit organizations to pilot innovative education programs, ranging in focus from teacher and leader induction and development to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) applied learning, blended learning, and birth-to-age-eight language and literacy development. Learn more about the Innovation Fund here.