Georgia's State ESSA Plan identifies facilitating and/or implementing new or existing partnerships or agency agreements as an area of focus for technical assistance provided by GaDOE. The plan also highlights potential and ongoing partnerships (for example under Literacy for Learning, Living, and Leading (L4), the statewide literacy plan, or Project AWARE, a SAMHSA-funded initiative to increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth) as critical to improve school conditions and student achievement.

State Health Improvement Plan was developed in partnership with multiple agencies across sectors and details objectives and measures to meet the population's health needs.

This toolkit developed by the Georgia Asthma Control Program at the Georgia Department of Public Health provides information and resources to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of a comprehensive asthma-friendly school policy in Georgia K-12 schools.

(i)  Student Support Services (SSS) - integrated and collaborative programs of school counseling and guidance services, school climate management and student discipline, school health services, school psychology services, alternative education programs, and school social work/visiting teacher services, provided individually or through a team approach, to all students at all grade levels.

(2)  Requirements. (a) Each local school system shall develop a Student Services Plan that prescribes and identifies programs and services that incorporate school climate improvement and management processes. (b) Each Student Services Plan must minimally include guidelines for the systematic provision of the following components:

• 1. Alternative education programs;
• 2. School psychological services;
• 3. School climate management;
• 4. School counseling and guidance services;
• 5. School health services;
• 6. School social work/visiting teacher services. (c) The local board of education (LBOE) shall provide for a School Climate Management Process to include improved student behavior and discipline in accordance with state and federal laws and State Board of Education rules regarding the Improved Student Learning Environment and Discipline Act of 1999. (d) The LBOE shall provide for School Guidance and Counseling Services in accordance with state and federal laws, State Board of Education rules, and department guidelines. (e) The LBOE shall provide School Social Work/Visiting Teacher Services by promoting home, school, and community cooperation to address the needs of the at-risk student population characterized by poverty, high absenteeism, academic failure, pregnancy, disruptive behavior or other student dysfunctions. (f) The LBOE shall provide for School Psychological Services sufficient to satisfy federal and state regulations and additional legal obligations incurred through court agreement. (g) The LBOE shall provide an Alternative Education Program in accordance with state and federal laws, State Board of Education rules, and department guidelines. (h) The LBOE shall provide for a School Health Nurse Program and must establish policies and procedures regarding a School Health Nurse Program in accordance with state and federal laws.

This page includes select state and national resources that provide strategies as well as publications and programs on family engagement to build parent and school capacity within communities in order to increase student achievement.

This page provides guidance on implementing a Georgia Farm to School program, including partnership opportunities with small business owners, registered dietitians, and culinary professionals.

This page describes the Georgia Grown Feed My School initiative through the Georgia Department of Agriculture, through which school nutrition directors apply for their system to participate. The program now consists of 19 schools throughout the State of Georgia. Each school participates in the program for 3 years in order to help build their farm-to-school approach and set a foundation for sustainable farm to cafeteria options.

This page provide information about Georgia Shape, a statewide, multiagency, multidimensional initiative that brings together governmental, philanthropic, academic, and business communities to address childhood obesity. The site provides resources for K-12 educators, as well as information on school grants and school health model policies.

(b.1) Pursuant to this Code section, the office may establish a nonprofit corporation to be designated as the Public Education Innovation Fund Foundation to promote Public-Private Partnerships between businesses, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, local school systems, and public schools, for the purpose of improving student achievement. Funds received by the foundation may be awarded through a competitive grant process administered by the office. The General Assembly may appropriate funds for purposes of this foundation beginning in Fiscal Year 2015.

(a) Within the first 60 instructional days of the school year of a contract amendment or intervention contract pursuant to Code Section 20-14-45, turnaround coaches shall coordinate with each school to conduct individual assessments of those students who have been identified as low-performing and shall coordinate with schools to provide the following interventions, as agreed to by the turnaround coach and the school and based on available funding and resources, including the reallocation of existing resources and grant funding, if available, pursuant to subsection (c) of Code Section 20-14-48:

• (1) Screen all students to diagnose the factors for low performance, including, but not limited to, reading development and comprehension, math proficiencies, physical health, mental health, access to the Internet or other ancillary supports to out-of-school learning activities expected of students and evaluate all available records to address nonacademic barriers to learning in the lowest-performing schools; and
• (2) Provide students who have been identified as low-performing with academic support and enrichment activities, access to programs to promote parental involvement, access to supports for addressing and improving mental and physical health, access to a learning resource center for students and guardians to strengthen academic supports, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and access to expert supports, which may include, but not be limited to, data scientists, psychometric personnel, curriculum specialists, learning theorists, and special educators to help advise the schools on technical learning matters.

(b) Turnaround coaches shall assist local boards of education in identifying integrated student services utilizing the list of resources established by the Chief Turnaround Officer pursuant to paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of Code Section 20-14-43. Local boards of education, in coordination with the turnaround coaches and the local school administration, shall create local collaborations to address personal and community conditions, which shall include the needs, issues, and problems within the communities of such school or schools, such as poverty, lack of economic development, safety, transportation options for parents and students, adult educational opportunities, wellness, and mental health services, and shall, in consultation with the turnaround coach, identify state and community resources that are available or that could be built upon, reallocated, or repurposed to address the issues impacting such school or schools.

(s) School councils are advisory bodies. The councils shall provide advice and recommendations to the school principal and, where appropriate, the local board of education and local school superintendent on any matter related to student achievement and school improvement, including, but not limited to, the following:

• (1) School board policies;
• (2) School improvement plans;
• (3) Curriculum and assessments;
• (4) Report cards issued or audits of the school conducted by the Office of Student Achievement;
• (5) Development of a school profile which shall contain data as identified by the council to describe the academic performance, academic progress, services, awards, interventions, environment, and other such data as the council deems appropriate;
• (6) School budget priorities, including school capital improvement plans;
• (7) School-community communication strategies;
• (8) Methods of involving parents and the community;
• (9) Extracurricular activities in the school;
• (10) School-based and community services;
• (11) Community use of school facilities;
• (12) Student discipline and attendance;
• (13) Reports from the school principal regarding progress toward the school's student achievement goals, including progress within specific grade levels and subject areas and by school personnel; and
• (14) The method and specifications for the delivery of early intervention services or other appropriate services for underachieving students.

(t) The role of the school council in the principal selection process shall be determined in policy written by the local board of education.

This safe school plan template, developed in partnership between the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security, is designed to assist schools in the development of a Safe School Plan and the identification of essential services necessary to continue during the closure of schools.

State School Nutrition Plan developed in partnership between the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Georgia Department of Education, and Georgia Department of Public Health.