Norm-Referenced Testing in Georgia with the Stanford Achievement Test Series

Georgia law requires all public school students in grades 3,5, and 8 be administered a norm-referenced test each year. Spring 2002 will be the second year students in Georgia public schools will be administered the Complete Battery of the Stanford Achievement Test Series, Ninth Edition (Stanford 9) multiple-choice assessment. School systems in Georgia have designated a week between March 11 and April 5 for about five hours of testing.

Norm-referenced tests help students, parents, and educators understand how the performance of Georgia students compares to students nationally. Test results are used to develop instructional activities and to evaluate educational programs with the goals of helping students succeed in school.

A video, Norm-Referenced Testing in Georgia with the Stanford 9, will be aired on PeachStar in December as a means to share information.
The goals of the video are to:

* Increase understanding of the Georgia norm-Referenced Testing program
* Define what a norm-referenced test is and how it is constructed
* Provide an overview of the Stanford 9
* Define and discuss how scores can be used instructionally

Clifford Fosters School-Readiness and Character Development

Everyday, GPB shares the Clifford the Big Red Dog Series with pre-school aged children in Georgia as part of the PBS Ready To Learn Program. Clifford imparts not only entertainment, but also important social and academic knowledge in the form of Clifford's Big Ideas and the integration of specific subject area skills.

Clifford, as a Ready To Learn program, offers children a foundation of academic knowledge. Ready To Learn, in conjunction with the United States Department of Education, has identified nine subject areas to guide child development in preparation for school-readiness. These areas include: social and emotional skills; critical thinking and problem solving skills; language and literacy skills; physical and motor skills; cognitive skills; science and discovery skills; life skills; understanding and appreciating diversity; and music and art appreciation and performance skills. Each of these skill areas carries with it specific goals developed by the National Educational Goals Panel's Technical Planning Subgroup on School-Readiness. Every episode of Cliffordaddresses one of these educational goals. For example, the goals associated with cognitive skills include classifying objects, recognizing similarities and differences, and understanding spatial relationships.

In addition to its academic instruction, Clifford also offers character education. Every episode of Clifford presents one of Clifford's Big Ideas, a set of ten positive character traits, through the vehicle of storytelling. Additionally, each episode concludes with a one-minute spot where Clifford and his friends reinforce one of the following Big Ideas:

* Be a Good Friend
* Be Kind
* Be Truthful
* Be Responsible
* Believe in Yourself
* Have Respect
* Help Others
* Play Fair
* Share
* Work Together

Children who watch Clifford learn about the social and emotional challenges they must face as they grow up. Clifford and his friends offer a model of these ten character traits children need in order to master those challenges. Each of these ten Big Ideas incorporates important developmental issues such as communication, conflict resolution, consequence, appreciation of diversity, self-confidence, teamwork, and cooperation.

Use Clifford the Big Red Dog in your classroom and visit the www.pbskids.org website for activities that you and your students can do together.

TeacherSource: Resources at Your Fingertips

Everyone knows that PBS produces and broadcasts fine educational programming. Few, though, know about the great teacher resource available in the form of the PBS website. In addition to program information, pbskids, and Adult Learning Service resources, the PBS website offers TeacherSource, a site devoted entirely to the needs of educators.

TeacherSource offers lesson plans, online games, experiments, teaching strategies, primary sources, video archives, and photographs to address the needs of the following subject areas:

* Arts and Literature
* Health and Fitness
* Math
* Science and Technology
* Social Studies
* Early Childhood

Additionally, the website offers downloadable PDF files of student activities and answers. You can search the lesson plans by grade level and subject area; best of all, these lesson plans meet general and specific classroom needs even without the video components offered by PBS programming. Visit www.pbs.org today to find out more about what TeacherSource has to offer your classroom.

Playing It Safe: The Code of Ethics for Educators

PeachStar Education Services and the Professional Standards Commission (PSC) are partnering to develop an instructional video about the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators. The video, set to begin production in Fall 2001, will feature a brief statement from Dr. F.D. Toth, the Executive Secretary of the PSC, regarding professionalism as educators; an introduction to the Code; the history of the Code?s creation; an explanation of the ten standards that constitute the Code; and look at several key problem areas.

According to the Professional Practices Section of the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators, the code "protects the health, safety and general welfare of students and educators, ensures the citizens of Georgia a degree of accountability within the education profession, and defines unethical conduct justifying disciplinary sanction." As mentioned above, the Code of Ethics centers around ten standards designed to ensure ethically appropriate behavior:

* Criminal Acts - An educator should aide by federal, state, and local laws and statues.
* Abuse of Students - An educator should always maintain a professional relationship with all students, both inside and outside the classroom.
* Alcohol or Drugs - An educator should refrain from the use of alcohol or illegal or unauthorized drugs during the course of professional practice.
* Misrepresentation or Falsification - An educator should exemplify honesty and integrity in the course of professional practice.
* Public Funds and Property - An educator entrusted with public funds and property should honor that trust with a high level of honesty, accuracy, and responsibility.
* Improper Remunerative Conduct - An educator should maintain integrity with students, colleagues, parents, patrons, or businesses when accepting gifts, gratuities, favors, and additional compensation.
* Confidential Information - An educator should comply with the state and federal laws and local school policies relating to the confidentiality of student records, unless disclosure is required or permitted by law.
* Abandonment of Contract - An educator should fulfill all of the terms and obligations detailed in the contract with the local board of education or education agency for the duration of the contract.
* Failure to Make a Required Report- An educator should file reports of a breach of one or more of the standards in the Code of Ethics, child abuse, or any other required report.
* Professional Conduct- An educator should demonstrate conduct that follows generally recognized professional standards.

Each of these standards carries with it a detailed proscription for unethical conduct that may be found in the complete text of the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators located at the Georgia PSC's website.

PeachStar and PSC feel that working with Georgia educators to come to a better understanding of their ethical obligations both inside and outside of the classroom will help to ensure students a safer, more secure environment in which to learn.

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Educators:

As we approach the Thanksgiving season, I want to take a moment to urge each of you to spend some time with your students sharing and giving thanks. Thanksgiving 2001, in the wake of the tragic events that befell our great nation in September, is an especially important opportunity for all Americans to reevaluate our lives and rediscover the joy of living. Over the last two months, Americans have put aside our differences and come together in a great show of solidarity and support for the victims and their families. One of the many things I am thankful for this year is our ability as Americans to bravely face adversity and unite under a common will to live free.

One of the most important and difficult tasks you face as educators is the responsibility of helping your students to cope with the ups and downs of living in a world where every moment holds the possibility of breaking news. Your ability to transform adversity into an opportunity for learning and growth is what will make you stand out in the eyes of your students during this difficult period of recovery. You may want to consider the theme packet on Patriotism PeachStar will be airing for use in your classroom to help address this difficult topic; see notice on page X for details.

All of us here at Georgia Public Broadcasting hope that you will make the most of the upcoming holiday season by infusing your classroom with the spirit of Thanksgiving and encouraging your students to appreciate all of the gifts that life has to offer.

Warm regards,

James M. Lyle,
Executive Director

PeachStar Partners to Infuse Arts into Georgia Middle School Curriculum

PeachStar Education Services, the Georgia Council for the Arts, and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) are collaborating on a project to infuse the arts into all aspects of classroom learning. The multifaceted project includes a 30-minute television program made with the help of SCAD's video and photography resources and scheduled to air over the PeachStar satellite network to schools across the state as well as on Georgia Public Television. Additionally, the project includes a website with the supporting curriculum materials and activities for teachers and students and a traveling exhibit of key pieces from the state collection of art featured in the program.

The video, entitled "SmARTistic: Experiencing Academics Through the Arts," begins with an introduction by Marie Barnes, First Lady of Georgia, and features interactions with the following Georgia artists:

* Bill Alexander
* Patricia Alexander
* Benny Andrews
* Barbara Brozik
* Robert Clements
* Glenn Dair
* Cheryl Goldsleger
* Kerry Moore
* Edward Moulthrop
* Ayokunle Odeleye
* Rocio Rodriguez
* Pamela Ross
* Ben Smith

"SmARTistic" offers a thorough examination of the featured pieces of art and a strong focus on art's tie to mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts topics. "SmARTistic" will air in Georgia classrooms via PeachStar's channel 420 every Friday in November (except for 11/23) and on into December.

In Spring of 2002, Georgia Council for the Arts is planning a tour around the state that will make some of the state collection?s most intriguing pieces available to be seen in person by Georgia learners of all ages.

This project draws upon the state's rich cultural heritage to create an exciting arts-based curriculum to improve student achievement in the critical areas of math, science, language arts, technology, and social studies. Infusing the academic curriculum with art and technology creates a dynamic learning environment in which students can draw on their natural talents and love of creative exploration to master core competencies.

While this program will be interesting and available to learners of all ages, the curriculum for this project will be targeted at the middle grades level. Success in middle school is vital to continued success in high school and adulthood. Research shows that these students are developing the capacity to think abstractly and critically, and projects such as this one will foster this capacity. This project will allow middle grades students to explore their abstract thinking skills in an engaging way.

Additionally, this effort will give teachers an effective way to introduce students to the arts within the existing curriculum framework.

For more information on this project, contact Denise Wingate, Project Manager, Community Education, PeachStar Education Services Division at dwingate@gpb.org.

Unitedstreaming.com Website Now a Reality for Georgia Educators

In September 2001, PeachStar and United Learning announced a partnership that would allow Georgia classroom teachers to access educational video assets instantly via the Internet. As of October, Georgia educators may now find online more than 10,000 video clips from an excess of 1,000 different programs drawn from the video repositories of both PeachStar and AGC/United Learning. PeachStar program offerings currently available through this video streaming project include all of the episodes from the Georgia Stories and Count On It! Series, with more programs being added each day.

The unitedstreaming.com website is password protected and these resources are available exclusively to Georgia public school educators and students. Each school media specialist has been given a username and password to access the site.

Presenting PeachStar's New Staff

The PeachStar team is pleased to welcome the addition of the following people to better serve Georgia teachers and students.

Chrissy Bramhall, Instructional Support Coordinator
Chrissy is the mastermind behind the ongoing redesign of the PeachStar website. She is using her Master's Degree in Information, Design, and Technology to create PeachStar's first ever on-line Program Guide, which will enable teachers to get the most up-to-date program information every day! With Chrissy's help, PeachStar is creating a more user-friendly website that will make it easier for teachers and students to navigate their way around to find the information and services they need. If you have any thoughts or suggestions about how our website could serve you better, feel free to contact Chrissy.

Gwen Clayton, Administrative Assistant
As Administrative Assistant, Gwen works with the Division Director to ensure that the division's budget is in place to allow PeachStar to bring Georgia classrooms all of the goods and services we provide each day. If you participate in any projects with PeachStar as a consultant, you can contact Gwen with questions about payment. Along with Jascenda Pasley, she will help you with any questions you have about what PeachStar has to offer.

Marilyn Dent, Traffic Assistant
Marilyn came to PeachStar from the Dekalb County School System, where she served as a media clerk. Before that, she worked for ten years in traffic and operations at WPBA. Marilyn will assist the rest of the Instructional and Technical Support Team with the daily tasks of satellite traffic and operations. She will be responsible for identifying programs for air and working with engineering to make sure that they broadcast via satellite to Georgia classrooms on time. Additionally, she will manage the PeachStar video repository and assist callers with their Video on Request needs.

Phyllis Grant, Elementary Education Project Manager
We are very excited to welcome Phyllis to our team of Project Managers. Phyllis, who holds a Master's Degree in both Elementary Education and Supervision and Administration as well as a Leadership Degree, will devote all of her time and energy to the specific needs of elementary educators. As an elementary school teacher, you will contact Phyllis anytime you want to schedule a PeachStar training, need assistance with the development of lesson plans to accompany PeachStar programming, or desire to learn how to integrate multimedia into your classroom. These are only some of the ways in which Phyllis is ready to serve Georgia educators; contact her directly with any needs you have for your elementary classroom.

Jascenda Pasley, Office Assistant
Jascenda will be the new voice of PeachStar customer service for teachers and media specialists. She is the first one you will speak with when you call PeachStar for assistance with scheduling, programming, ordering, or anything else you may need. Jascenda has been familiarizing herself with all of the services that PeachStar has to offer Georgia educators and will be glad to help you with all of your PeachStar needs!

PeachStar and CWK Network Bring Character Education into Georgia Classrooms

In an exciting endeavor to address the state-mandated character education requirements for Georgia schools, PeachStar Education Services, a Division of Georgia Public Broadcasting, and CWK Network Inc. have announced a joint partnership that will serve the needs of students and teachers across the state. (PeachStar is known across Georgia for providing high quality educational resources that enrich, inform, and support the Georgia learning community. The Connecting With Kids Network (CWKN) is known nationally for being a leading creator of the very kind of educational and reality-based broadcast programming PeachStar airs in Georgia classrooms).

In 1995, the Georgia State Legislature passed a bill mandating a comprehensive character education program to be developed beginning with the 1996-1997 school year. This "character curriculum" was to assist school children with character development as it related to particular character words such as citizenship and diligence. During the Programming Acquisition Project held at the Georgia Public Broadcasting facility over the spring of 2001, PeachStar discovered CONNECT! through the help of Georgia teachers. CONNECT! is a new offering from CWK that teaches character education according to the very same principles envisioned by both the Georgia legislation and national standards for character education in the classroom.

Beginning in September 2001, PeachStar began airing the first nine episodes of CONNECT!, geared toward students between grades 9-12. The series will air in blocks every Monday through October and will address the following character words: Caring/Compassion, Citizenship, Convictions, Courage, Diligence, Fairness/Justice, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Trustworthiness. In addition to the video component, CONNECT! offers interested schools complete course materials including teacher and student texts, integrated lesson plans, on-line activities, and assessment tools. PeachStar and CWK want to help classroom teachers from schools that have chosen CONNECT! to serve their character education needs to understand and implement the curriculum. To that end, PeachStar and CWK, with the support and assistance of the Georgia Center for Character Education, will offer more than nine day-long trainings across the state to familiarize teachers with the programming and curriculum materials.

PeachStar Partners with Council for the Arts

Art is the universal language, and it has proven to be a universal vehicle for teaching academic subjects across the curriculum. Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) and the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) have embarked on a new partnership to demonstrate that art can be used effectively to introduce and reinforce instruction in science, mathematics, language arts and social studies.

Partnership activities include the production of a 30-minute video that will be aired over PeachStar's statewide satellite network which reaches more than 2,400 public schools and other education sites in Georgia. The video, which will premiere in November, highlights art from the Georgia State Art Collection and includes interviews with several of the artists whose work appears in the collection. In addition, PeachStar has arranged for a corps of experienced classroom teachers to develop a supporting curriculum which will be available online this fall. Finally, early in 2002, GCA will tour the state with an exhibit featuring selected pieces from the collection.

Summer School for Teachers - PeachStar's Teacher-In-Residence Program

This summer PeachStar kicked off its first ever Teacher-In-Residence Program. As part of this effort, teachers from all across Georgia came to the Georgia Public Broadcasting facility in Atlanta to learn new skills and work with PeachStar staff to develop support materials for use in Georgia classrooms.

The program, which ran for four weeks, was divided into four different segments, with each week focusing on a different subject area. Week One, entitled Workshop In A Box, taught teachers the important skill of integrating multimedia into PowerPoint presentations for use in the classroom. Week Two, entitled Art Across the Curriculum, focused on developing lesson plans that integrated art across subject areas. Week Three, entitled simply Count On It!, concentrated on developing support materials to supplement the original PeachStar elementary math series, Count On It! Finally, the program finished up with Week Four, entitled Georgia Studies/Georgia Stories: The Primary Connection. This group developed multimedia lesson plans that support the original PeachStar series Georgia Stories. These lesson plans draw on primary source material from the state archives and will eventually be posted on the Georgia Stories website.

As part of the Teacher-In-Residence program, participants have agreed to take the knowledge they have gained and work they have done over the summer back to school with them in the fall. Each participant will implement in the classroom the skills learned during his or her particular week, as well as giving a general presentation about the resources available through PeachStar. Letters will be sent to participants' schools shortly after the beginning of the school year to let principals know all about the work their teachers have done over the summer and about the important information they will be sharing with the school community.

We at PeachStar are very excited about the opportunity to work with Georgia educators to develop resources we feel confident will help them to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. We're not the only ones who are excited about the advances PeachStar is making in educational technology, though. Here is what some of the participants in our Teacher-In-Residence Program had to say about their experience:

Millicent Bess, Haven Elementary (Chatham Co) "I'd really like to thank PeachStar...for reading my mind. I've wanted to learn how to use multimedia in my classroom and I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn to do it...and not only to learn, but to be able to go back to my school and incite teachers about doing the same thing."

Catherine Tyler, Hawthorne Elementary (Clayton Co) "I think the hook is to get other teachers to not be intimidated and be overwhelmed, but to show them it's hard work in the beginning, but once you catch on to these concepts like video streaming and hyperlinks and putting them in a presentation, you feel...like you're not only an excellent classroom teacher, but you do have expertise in the area of technology. I feel ecstatic about the sense of accomplishment...that makes it worthwhile."

Sonya Boyd, Shaw High School (Muscogee Co) "Having been here this week has reinforced my impression that PeachStar remains a leader in technology for educators in Georgia...it really is a tremendous opportunity for all of us, whether we're classroom teachers or media specialists or guidance counselors. Whatever our position, we need to be taking advantage of this."

We thank all of our Teacher-In-Residence participants for all of their hard work and look forward to hearing their success stories throughout the coming year!

Online Educational Media

In a revolutionary partnership designed to bring Internet-delivered, core curriculum-based video-on-demand to all public schools, colleges, and libraries statewide, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) and United Learning (UL) have announced an alliance that puts Georgia at the forefront of the movement to meet the U.S. Department of Education's National Educational Technology Goals. (United Learning is an Illinois-based company with whom GPB has had a long-standing relationship. GPB acquires educational content from UL for delivery to Georgia schools via GPB's statewide PeachStar Satellite Network.)

Combining GPB's educational programming and UL's new unitedstreaming.com website, an extensive library of hundreds of hours of educational programming is now available online in GPB's broadcast area. The new partnership affects more than 2,500 buildings, including more than 1,900 PreK-12 public schools, 89,000 teachers, and 1.4 million students, starting immediately. The content was developed in compliance with Georgia's Quality Core Curriculum (QCC), which is the official statewide curriculum adopted by the State Board of Education for all Georgia public schools.

UL is launching a formal scientific evaluation of its unitedstreaming.com site, to be completed in 2002. Free live demonstrations of the technology behind the GPB/UL partnership are available at www.unitedstreaming.com.

This partnership supports the long-range educational technology goals advocated by Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and former Gov. Zell Miller. The venture also reflects the recommendations of the bi-partisan, congressional Web-Based Education Commission, in its report "The Power of The Internet for Learning" presented to both the President and Congress. Georgia U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson served as vice-chair of the Commission.

Subscribers now have instant access to roughly 1,000 videos and more than 10,000 video clips in science, social studies, math, language arts, and guidance, as well as to extensive support materials for teachers and students. Video content may be downloaded directly to a teacher's or student's hard drive or streamed over the Internet. The entire library may be searched by keyword, grade level, subject, or specific QCC standard.

GPB's efforts directly address National Educational Technology Goals issued by the United States Department of Education last year. These goals are:

* All students and teachers will have access to information technology in their classrooms, schools, communities, and homes.
* All teachers will use technology effectively to help students achieve high academic standards.
* All students will have technology and information literacy skills.
* Research and evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning.
* Digital content and networked applications will transform teaching and learning.

In addition to meeting broad national goals, GPB's initiative specifically addresses technology integration learning standards set forth in the QCC. Those standards mandate that all students in Georgia public schools will be able to master a myriad of information technology-related skills such as:

* Operating basic technology tools and applications
* Creating, modifying, and editing documents using word processing and desktop publishing tools
* Creating, managing, and utilizing information using database and spreadsheet tools and applications
* Using multimedia tools to express ideas
* Evaluating, selecting, and using telecommunication tools and online resources to communicate ideas that persuade, describe, inform, or involve
* Using a variety of telecommunication tools to communicate the results of research projects
* Using technology and telecommunications tools to locate, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, apply, and communicate information
* Using a variety of technology tools to solve problems

Realizing these goals and learning objectives will fundamentally change the way educational media is delivered and used by teachers and students in the classroom and beyond.

Programming Acquisition

PeachStar and Georgia Teachers Join Forces

From March until May of 2001, PeachStar piloted our first ever Programming Acquisition Project, a joint effort between PeachStar staff and Georgia teachers to select educational programming that lines up with the state's Quality Core Curriculum. Additionally, selected programming had to meet the specific content needs of Georgia teachers, and offer well-rounded packages of support materials. Over the course of five weekends, different groups of teachers from all over the state came to the GPB facility in Atlanta to evaluate potential program offerings for the coming year; programming was evaluated according to a pre-set rubric that addressed such criteria as the compatibility of the materials with Georgia's curriculum framework and content needs. These evaluations then served as the foundation on which programming selection was made for the upcoming year.

We at PeachStar understand that no one is in a better position to determine the needs of teachers than teachers themselves; we also recognize that the needs of teachers differ vastly from one grade level to the next. That's why we separated the teachers into groups according to grade level (Elementary, Middle, and High). Each group reviewed video series geared toward the students in the specific age group they teach and determined if the programming met the particular needs of their grade level.

In addition to their program reviewing activities, teachers participated in focus groups while they were here at the GPB facility. PeachStar staff elicited feedback from teachers on such topics as the form and function of Pipeline Magazine, the Program Guide, and the PeachStar website. The thoughts teachers offered on these topics played a huge role in shaping the way we approached the design of these resources for the upcoming school year.

Based on the input offered by the more than 300 teachers who worked over the course of the Programming Acquisition Project, PeachStar was able this year to purchase enough quality programming to fill three channels; Channel 410, previously PeachStar's "main" channel, will be devoted entirely to Elementary programming. Channel 420 will cater to the programming needs of Middle and High School students, while Channel 430 will offer Professional Development, post-secondary, and adult learning courses all day every school day!

Now that the bulk of program selection and review is behind us, PeachStar intends to make programming acquisition an ongoing process that continues throughout the year, rather than a once yearly event. By treating acquisition as a continual process rather than a one-time event, we hope to distribute both the workload and the benefits across the school year. We look forward to continuing to draw on the input of the Georgia teachers we serve in making decisions about the kind of programming we should purchase for classroom use.

A Letter from the Executive Director

Back to school is always an exciting time of year; this year, though, coming back to school will be even more exciting than ever. The staff of the Education Services Division of Georgia Public Broadcasting has spent the summer working hard with dedicated Georgia educators to expand on the resources we have to offer students and teachers in Georgia public schools.

Such efforts as the Programming Acquisition Project, which utilized Georgia teachers' expertise to select the programming to be purchased for the upcoming school year, and the Teacher-In-Residence Program, which brought teachers from across the state to Atlanta to work with our staff on developing multi-media support materials to accompany our video programming, have given me the opportunity to interact on a personal level with a large number of Georgia's educators. One of the big motivators behind the summer's work was our desire to demonstrate to Georgia teachers our willingness to listen to what they, the end users of our products and services, have to say and to incorporate their real-life experiences into our efforts to improve. I very much enjoyed the moments I was able to spend one-on-one with teachers and found the insights they offered regarding their needs as educators and the services we at GPB provide to Georgia's public schools to be invaluable. It was exciting to see so many teachers willing to spend their precious vacation time hard at work, assisting our staff with the great task of improving teaching and learning in Georgia classrooms through the use of educational technology.

Over the course of the coming school year, we will continue to work with Georgia teachers and to draw on their wisdom as we persevere in our goal to raise the bar of excellence in educational offerings extended to Georgia classrooms. Be sure to look for exciting new developments such as the posting of lesson plans on-line and PeachStar's partnership with United Learning to offer video streaming directly into Georgia classrooms.

I wish you a very successful school year for 2001-2002 and hope that our ongoing efforts to provide Georgia students and teachers with the highest level of educational resources will help you to make this school year one to remember.

Warm regards,

James M. Lyle,
Executive Director

Japanese is Now Available to Your School

There are many bright, highly-motivated high school students in Georgia who want to study Japanese, either because they are interested in that fascinating culture or because they recognize Japan's considerable influence in the international business community. Trouble is, there is a shortage of teachers certified to teach Japanese, and the language is not offered at many Georgia high schools. Now every student attending a Georgia high school can enroll in a full-credit, two-year Japanese foreign language course. And it's free!

For years students in Georgia and other states have been learning Japanese - and receiving two years of high school foreign language credit - by participating in Irasshai. This PeachStar program is a comprehensive curricula consisting of 138 30-minute video lessons, supplemented by twice-weekly conversation practice with native speakers of Japanese, textbook materials, and a highly developed interactive web site.

Schools in other states pay for Irasshai at a rate of several hundred dollars per student. Until this school year, Georgia schools also paid a slightly reduced fee. But no more! Irasshai is now offered to Georgia schools at absolutely no cost! This applies to all high school students attending a Georgia public, private or home school.

Schools are responsible for providing a classroom teacher to act as course facilitator. The facilitator takes attendance, collects homework, monitors tests and provides a positive instructional environment. Actual instruction, conversation practice and the grading of most tests are provided by Irasshai staff. Best of all, the facilitator does not have to be certified to teach Japanese. In fact, many facilitators learn Japanese right along with their students. Facilitators also may become PeachStar representatives and receive special perks and bonuses.

In March, PeachStar mailed a letter and other Irasshai informational materials to every public high school in Georgia. In the letter, we invited principals and foreign language department heads to request Irasshai registration and student recruitment packets. If you know of students at your school who would be interested in taking Japanese, contact your school office to make sure that a registration packet has been ordered. If your school did not receive the March mailing, please contact PeachStar directly at 1-800-883-7444.

PeachStar Partnership to Provide Teacher Training

An innovative distance-learning program will allow teachers in the state s 181st school district to study for add-on certification in special education without ever setting foot on a college campus. The school district, which comprises the residential schools of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), and PeachStar have partnered to create the course in an effort to meet the DJJ s growing demand for certified special education teachers.

The course is designed for teachers employed by the DJJ who currently hold teaching certificates in areas other than special education. A series of 10 self-paced course modules delivers instruction via the Internet, CD-ROM and video. Participants access and complete course assignments in their own work place or in their homes. The flexible format minimizes disruption to teachers work and personal lives, and makes it more convenient to advance professionally without compromising one s current work status.

The DJJ conceived the idea as an efficient way to meet critical staffing shortages. The DJJ, recognizing the value of a well-trained, supported work force, assumes the financial responsibility for the teacher s enrollment. The DJJ also provides computer workstations, resource libraries, instructors and mentors for those enrolled in the course. The GAPSC has granted the DJJ the authority to issue certification to those who satisfy all requirements.

PeachStar will produce the course modules with the assistance of Denzil Edge, Ph.D. and Cindy Mercer, Ph.D., nationally recognized experts in special education teacher training and distance education from the University of Louisville. Clayton College & State University will host the online content.

PeachStar and the DJJ hope this pioneering program will pave the way for similar educational opportunities for all of Georgia s teachers.

PBS Kids Ready To Learn at GPB

PBS KIDS Ready to Learn created especially for families and child care providers - helps those who care for young children encourage a child's natural curiosity and love of learning.

Ready to Learn combines television designed to teach with community outreach and innovative educational materials. This exciting blend of television services builds on wonderful PBS programs families know and trust - such as Sesame Street, Mister Rogers Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow through

* A daily broadcast of 6.5 hours of quality children's educational television per day on Georgia Public Television;
* Breaks between the shows to deliver non-commercial, educational messages to help young people build the skills they need to become successful learners;
* Educational outreach, such as workshops and newsletters throughout the State of Georgia;
* Partnerships with national and local community organizations such as child care centers, schools, colleges, libraries, resource and referral agencies, family childcare organizations, and governmental agencies.

Together, these resources help families, teachers and caregivers across the state use public television to help meet the national education goal that all children will begin school "Ready to Learn."

What's on GPTV Ready to Learn Programming

GPTV is television parents trust, and quality children s programming is at the heart of Ready to Learn. Each day, PBS offers a great variety of award-winning television for children ages 2-12. Each show on GPTV is built around a curriculum ? TV that entertains and teaches, too!

Ready to Learn Outreach

We develop and deliver local workshops, special events, curriculum guides and newsletters to take the learning from the TV set into homes, family child care settings, schools, after-school programs and child care centers. Ready to Learn teaches families and caregivers how to get the most from the TV they watch.

In collaboration with community partners, GPTV distributes high-quality children's books each month to families and early childhood organizations who might not otherwise have access to them, enabling them to build a library of selected children's literature.

For further information about Ready to Learn, contact:
Kathy McCollister
Ready to Learn Coordinator
770-277-5726

The Fourth Year of ICLE at GPB

PeachStar Education Services once again is producing and broadcasting continuing education seminars for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) in Georgia. The PeachStar/ICLE partnership began in 1996. This partnership allows ICLE to provide the State Bar of Georgia required courses over a statewide satellite link. Since its inception, more than 5,000 Bar members have attended this distance-learning program. By using the teleconference format, all participants receive the same information simultaneously. Participants can phone in questions to the presenters and receive answers on air during the program. This type of interaction between presenter and participants is vital to engaging the attendees and providing them with a useful experience.

When ICLE changed to the teleconference format, they chose 31 sites around Georgia to host participants. This is a significant increase over the old style conference offered at only a few of the larger cities around the state. ICLE selected these sites so that no Bar member would travel more than 30 minutes to participate in the training. Because of the close proximity of the sites, participants in rural areas receive training with minimal time away from their practices, which means less lost revenue.

In addition to the satellite-based conference, ICLE contracted with Georgia Net to provide conference web casting beginning in January 2001. PeachStar provides the satellite signal to Georgia Net which then broadcasts the proceeding electronically over the Internet. With this new format, ICLE will reach even more participants, and further decrease time away from the office for attorneys.

PeachStar provides similar services to governmental and business groups. If your school or agency is interested in learning more about how PeachStar can serve your distance learning needs, please call us at (404) 685-2550.

PeachStar to Help Train School Councils

Georgia s schools will have well-trained councils to guide them in their school improvement efforts, thanks to an exciting new partnership between PeachStar and the Georgia School Council Institute.

The Georgia School Council Institute and PeachStar are developing a comprehensive training program that will be delivered into local schools via the PeachStar Satellite Network during the month of July 2001. The training covers everything a council member needs to know to serve effectively, from the proper way to conduct a meeting and the legal requirements of a council, to understanding statistical measures of school performance and developing plans that address issues.

The A+ Education Reform Act of 2000 mandated the creation of school councils to "bring communities and schools closer together in the spirit of cooperation to solve difficult education problems, improve academic achievement, provide support for teachers and administrators, and bring parents into the school-based decision-making process." Every public school in Georgia must form a school counsel comprising the school principal, 2 parents, 2 teachers, and 2 local business professionals. The law also requires each council member to complete a training program prior to commencing service.

PeachStar is proud to play such an important role in transforming all Georgia schools into outstanding centers of learning. To learn more about this project or the Georgia School Council Institute, please call Shelia G. King, executive director of the Institute, at 678-560-1301, or visit their web site at www.gaschoolcouncil.org.

PeachStar Celebrates African American Heritage

In February, PeachStar will observe Black History Month with a variety of programming showcasing the significant contributions African Americans have made, not only here in the United States, but also around the world.

The selections will include episodes from PeachStar's awarding-winning Georgia Stories series that focus on African American history, culture and the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights unit will be enhanced by video excerpts from the GPTV documentary Hosea Williams: In His Own Words. Before the Reverend Williams passed away, GPTV conducted one of the last full-length interviews with the Civil Rights leader. From his home in East Lake, Williams recounts his extraordinary life, from his childhood in South Georgia and his later alliance with the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to his work with the needy. This fascinating journey emphasizes the importance of education and of standing up for your beliefs, regardless of the consequences. With odds stacked against him throughout his life, Williams rose to the challenge of finishing high school in his 20s, completing college, and becoming one of the wealthiest African Americans in Savannah, but gave up his wealth to join the Civil Rights Movement. Under his leadership, both Savannah and St. Augustine became racially integrated. Williams later became a political leader, serving in the Georgia House of Representatives, the Atlanta City Council and the DeKalb County Commission. Williams' poignant observations about the current state of racial relations in Atlanta provide the context for further classroom discussion.

Teachers: GPTV will rebroadcast this hour-long documentary in February. Teachers who tape this program should preview the interview prior to class viewing as it contains mature content and language.

See the next page for a comprehensive listing of programming PeachStar will air in February in observance of Black History Month.

How Can I Use Technology and the QCC with

Teacher Universe/Galaxy Classroom brings many best practices in teaching and learning together with an extensive array of resources, including hands-on and minds-on investigations, take home extensions, interdisciplinary connections and teacher learning opportunities with ongoing support - all delivered through state-of-the-art telecommunications and quality interactive/inquiry-based video.

Teacher Universe/Galaxy Classroom is proud to announce the inclusion of IntegrateOnline101 into the Galaxy Classroom professional development series. Galaxy teachers will have the opportunity, at no additional charge, to learn and practice effective technology integration through online resources to support their Galaxy standards-based curriculum. In addition, the technology integration skills learned in IntegrateOnline 101 can be applied to all subject areas to enhance their classroom curriculum.

Teacher Universe IntegrateOnline 101
IntegrateOnline 101 is a classroom, scenario-based, online program, incorporating multimedia demonstrations and simulations, narration, and interactive hands-on projects. Based on learning objectives, teachers learn to use technology to support their standards-based classroom to engage students and reinforce learning.

Each IntegrateOnline 101 course includes a pre-and post-assessment that creates a custom learning path for each participant. Progress reports can be instantly generated online. Teachers can work with Integrate Online 101 at their own pace, in their own style, anytime, anywhere, with no lost classroom time.

How do I become a Galaxy Classroom?
Galaxy Classroom is an elementary science and language arts curriculum. Galaxy Classroom integrates all of the QCC requirements with video (via PeachStar!), hands-on investigations, and communication via email. Kids and teachers are using satellite and Internet technologies for a compelling reason! There are 435 registered Galaxy schools in Georgia, with over 2,000 registered teachers, and over 50, 000 kids!

Registering to be a Galaxy Classroom is FREE, through funding from the Georgia General Assembly.
To register for Galaxy Classroom or for the Integration courses,
contact Christine Kane at ckane@galaxy.org or 800-303-9070, Ext. 41.
Check out our family of web sites: www.galaxy.org and www.teacheruniverse.com.

PeachStar's Professional Development Programming

Last year, PeachStar received numerous requests from Georgia educators to include more professional development programming in the broadcast schedule. In response to your requests, PeachStar is pleased to offer professional development programming for K-12 educators each day from 4-5 PM. The offerings are informative and cover a wide variety of topics that impact teaching and learning.

We encourage schools to offer PeachStar programming for staff development unit (SDU) credit. Keep in mind that the same basic rules and regulations that apply to traditional modes of professional development also apply to video and web-based training.

Local school systems are ultimately responsible for deciding whether training activities are appropriate for earning SDU credit. In addition to whatever guidelines are set at the school and district level, basic state requirements must be met. The Georgia Department of Education requires that

* 10 clock hours of instruction must be attended to receive one staff development unit;
* Attendance must be documented for each workshop offering; and
* Mastery verification or on-the-job performance verification must be documented for each workshop offering.

Schools and systems that are considering the use of PeachStar programming for staff development purposes should understand that, while PeachStar serves as the instructional delivery system for the programming, it is the responsibility of each school or school district to provide the following:

* An on-site facilitator to verify participant attendance at each session (required by state guidelines);
* On-site personnel to document that participants have completed workshop activities successfully or that new learnings have been incorporated successfully into the job as verified by an on-the-job performance assessment (required by state guidelines); and
* An on-site facilitator to ensure that school or school district requirements for earning staff development units are met.

If you are interested in making PeachStar programming a part of your staff development plan, contact your school or system staff development coordinator. There is an existing form called the Staff Development Unit Course Completion form, approved by the Georgia Department of Education, that your system might want to use to document successful completion of SDU course work.

Building a Better Media Repository

Since 1994 when the PeachStar Satellite Network first began airing instructional video resources, we have made every effort to identify the best educational programming available and to purchase that programming for use by Georgia schools. In the early years, we sought out programming that already had a national reputation and was being used successfully in other states. We also purchased programming recommended at First View, an annual conference where public television station professionals previewed and evaluated new instructional videos. We soon had established an impressive media repository that included such favorites as GALAXY Classroom, Reading Rainbow and Integrated Science.

In an effort to directly involve the educational professionals who use PeachStar programing in the programming selection process, we instituted PeachStar Program Screening in 1997. During Screening, Georgia school administrators, teachers and media specialists could view excerpts from the programming rated highest at First View and vote for their favorites. Blockfeeds of these programs via the satellite network enabled all schools to participate; however participation was voluntary. The results, then, did not provide a statistically valid measure of the preferences of the Georgia learning community. Because we asked simply for viewers to indicate programs they "liked", results also did not indicate the actual value of the program for instructional purposes. Finally, educators were asked to evaluate programs simply from segments of an entire program or series, requiring a leap of faith that the quality of the entire program matched that of the excerpt.

Now PeachStar is raising its program selection procedures to a higher level. We will not conduct PeachStar Program Screening this year; rather, we are developing a new Program Evaluation Instrument to ensure all PeachStar video resources effectively address clearly identified instructional needs of Georgia classrooms. Details of the new process will be announced soon; however, the basic elements of the Program Evaluation Instrument already have been determined:

1. We will identify focus groups comprising educators who represent each grade level and academic subject area. The groups will reflect our state's diversity in terms of wealth, geography and ethnicity.
2. Strict, clear criteria will be established to guide focus groups in their evaluations of programming. Criteria will include:
* Does the programming address the objectives of Georgia's Quality Core Curriculum (QCC)?
* Does the programming address other curricular standards recognized by professional educators?
* Based on the actual experience of the educator who is doing the evaluation, does the programming address real-world classroom needs?
* Is the content of the programming presented effectively?
3. Evaluators will assess not only video programming but also all print and web resources associated with that programming.
4. Members of the focus groups will receive thorough training in the selection procedures before they begin to evaluate programming.
5. Evaluations will be made of the entire series, rather than of excerpts.
6. Once programming has been evaluated and selected for inclusion in PeachStar's repository, the results of the evaluations will be published in the PeachStar Program Guide and on our web site. That will help educators determine which PeachStar resources best meet specific classroom needs.

The success of this new process will depend not only upon the design of the instrument but also upon the commitment and hard work of the focus group members. We soon will begin enlisting the assistance of dedicated professionals who wish to take part in this process. Your participation will ensure that every title in PeachStar's media repository meets the highest standards of experienced Georgia educators.

A Letter from the Division Director

Dear Colleagues:

The value of a good education is immeasurable. As a science educator in the university system for more than 25 years, I have seen knowledge transform a student's life. Former students with limited experiences of the world now have exciting careers in science because of what they learned in their first biology class. Other students, who might otherwise have no access to a college education, now are enrolled in degree programs thanks to distance learning. They, too, are discovering a brighter future than they ever thought possible.

This state has a tremendous need for high quality curriculum support in its schools. Teachers find it difficult to juggle the demands for teaching core subjects while assuring students develop the skills they need to succeed in the high tech world.

That's why I feel so proud to be the new director of PeachStar Education Services, a Division of Georgia Public Broadcasting. I know that PeachStar can change students' lives by giving them a new way of looking at learning and the world. We envision PeachStar offering a truly integrated, multimedia approach to learning that excites both learners and teachers. To accomplish that, we created a work plan with these priorities:

1. Offer multimedia learning packages A new system for selecting PeachStar programming requires all video programming to have lesson plans, web-based learning activities, and other resources to make it easier for teachers to create exciting learning experiences for students.
2. Support professional development Teachers need learning opportunities too. PeachStar will offer more workshops and conferences via satellite for teachers to grow their professional skills. One such course will cover integrating technology-based media in the classroom. This video/web series will allow teachers to experience technology-based learning themselves and acquire needed skills at their convenience.
3. Maintain close ties with the learning community Education is a collaborative process. To ensure success, PeachStar is developing multiple channels for ongoing communication with its partners. Regular satisfaction/needs surveys will allow media specialists and teachers to express their needs. Involving the Georgia professional associations for the different K-12 subject areas in the program selection process helps us target programming to real Georgia content needs. Participation of our staff in education associations will connect us to the issues.
4. Support integration of technology in the classroom - Imagine a legion of experienced classroom teachers demonstrating to and supporting their peers in utilizing technology and PeachStar in daily classroom activity. We are making that a reality by creating the PeachStar Specialist Team. By next school year, this team, along with our existing satellite help desk service, video on request line and web site will give educators the tools they need to teach our children to succeed ? in school and in life.

This ambitious plan gives us much work to do. Our talented staff, now organized in three functional teams, already is hard at work making achievement not simply a goal but a way of doing business. We thank you for your support and look forward to an even more productive, rewarding partnership as we move forward. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to share them with us. We are here for you so you can be there for your students.

Sincerely,
C. Blaine Carpenter, Ph.D.
Division Director
PeachStar Education Services

Georgia Stories: History Online

Teachers of Georgia history (mandated by the state for all eighth-grade public school students) generally fall into one of several categories:

* those who are teaching the subject for the first time and did not major in the subject area in college;
* those who have lived in the state a short time and have little knowledge of the state's history;
* those who are experienced Georgia history teachers who continuously seek to broaden their knowledge of the subject and to vary their presentation in the classroom.

All of these teachers share a concern for sufficient resources to teach Georgia history. The Georgia Stories: History Online web site addresses this need through its rich sources of historical documents.

The Georgia Stories web site represents a partnership between The Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Public Broadcasting. Designed and maintained by Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), the site is closely correlated with the award-winning Georgia Stories I & II video series produced by PeachStar Education Services. The Georgia Stories video series consists of 37, 30-minute videos, and each of those half hour programs is subdivided into two or three "stories" which focus on discrete Study Topics in Georgia history. In all, 107 Study Topics are featured in the video series, and 23 of those topics already are covered in-depth on the web site, with more being added in the future. (The box on the next page shows the Study Topics currently available at Georgia Stories: History Online.)

The web site is a unique educational experience that permits students and teachers to assess primary source archival material on Georgia history. Original historical documents, study guides and other related educational resources are available. Student activities, questions, vocabulary, study aides and opportunities for students to post their own individual or group work are possible. Primary source materials include newspapers and magazine articles of the times, photographs, personal letters, journals, reports, public documents and recorded audio oral histories. All materials are correlated with study questions and with Georgia's Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) standards.

There has been significant use of the site by younger students, high school students, college students worldwide, and research scholars. Comments from visitors are always welcome in the "Guestbook." Some examples:

"I think this is a fabulous web site. It is full of interesting articles and stories for all age groups and educational for all." Nancy T. Rodgers-Neame, Florida, June 11, 2000

"The Georgia Stories web site offers many great resources which make our state's history even more personal and interesting to my 8th graders. Thank you for the hard work that goes into it." James Harrington, teacher, Ephesus Elementary, Ephesus, Georgia, March 29, 2000.

"For a parent whose time is limited this was a great time saver with good info!" Veverly D. Bell, parent, Sycamore, Georgia, February 29, 2000.

"I think that Georgia Stories Online is a good opportunity for kids to learn about history!" Stephanie, student, 8th grade, Madras Middle, Palmetto, Georgia, February 22, 2000.

"I am researching the various personal stories about the "Trail of Tears" in the hopes of finding information about my Great Grandmother, who family tradition reports, was adopted by the Sandlin family from the displaced Indians trekking to the Indian territory." Harold Beck, Longview, Washington, July 5, 2000.

"The Georgia Stories video series is the most popular programming ever produced by PeachStar and the most widely used series aired over our educational satellite network," said Blaine Carpenter, PeachStar Director. "According to a survey we conducted last spring, 59 percent of all responding K-12 schools and 95 percent of middle schools use Georgia Stories I & II. Now the instructional value of the videos has been greatly enhanced, thanks to the tremendous job that Georgia teachers working in conjunction with the staff at CEISMC have done to develop the web site. The Study Topics areas on the site are incredibly deep, offering far more background, detail and nuance than can possibly be covered during a 10-minute video segment. This is a premiere resource for anyone who is interested in Georgia history, whether you are an eighth-grade student or a Ph.D.," Carpenter said.

The great majority of the information on the site is available in an open section accessible to all web users. There also is a password protected section, divided into two parts:

* archival materials restricted to an educational audience
* a "teachers' only" section that provides background, references and guides to the topics and associated study questions.

If you are an educator who would like access to the restricted sections of the Georgia Stories: History Online web site, you can request a password from Carolyn Cole at CEISMC. Because of the rights agreements that GPB has with the owners of some of the archival material that is in the restricted sections, we must be able to verify that you are an educator. Send Carolyn a fax, on your school letterhead, stating you are an educator at the school, to (404) 894-9675. Be sure to include contact information (your school email address or school phone number) on your fax. You may also phone Carolyn at (404) 894-4847 or email carolyn.cole@ceismc.gatech.edu.

PeachStar and JASON XII Bring You Hawaii

This month, you can explore the Hawaiian islands live via PeachStar with Dr. Bob Ballard and his team of JASON Project researchers and Argonauts. It's the latest installment in the popular series of JASON Project interactive electronic field trips.

The JASON XII team chose Hawaii for the 2001 expedition site because of the "living laboratory" aspect of the islands, where researchers and participants are able to the study the elements of the natural world first hand. Viewers will experience Hawaii from a multidisciplinary perspective, including island geology, climate, biology and culture. Using volcanoes as the main theme of the project, the explorers will investigate this dynamic process both on the land and in the sea. The researchers will compare the volcanic process with other events throughout the solar system. They will also examine how the unique geology and climate of Hawaii have given rise to a distinct biology, featuring a remarkable array of endemic species. In addition, the team will explore characteristics of the Hawaiian culture and its native people.

For the first time, one of Dr. Ballard's Argonauts is a Georgia student. Timothy Trout from Greenbrier Middle School in Columbia County will join the explorers on the expedition. His enthusiastic perspective on the natural world will add a great deal to the team. "Underwater exploration, in my opinion, is one of the most fascinating areas of science. There are so many unusual plants and animals and such beautiful colors there. Everything seems to move with the same rhythm. Even the shells that are thousands of years old add to the picture of the underwater world. Discovering a new species would be equally exciting," stated Trout in his application to the JASON Foundation for Education.

The JASON Project offers students and teachers in grades 4 through 9 a comprehensive, multimedia approach to enhance teaching and learning in science, technology, math, geography and associated disciplines. The project delivers its educational content through a print curriculum, videos, fully interactive Internet programming and live satellite "telepresence" broadcasts. The mission of the JASON Foundation for Education, founded in 1990 to administer the program, is to excite and engage students in science and technology. The program also strives to motivate teachers and provide them with professional development. Dr. Ballard founded the JASON Project in 1989 after receiving thousands of letters from school children wanting to know how he discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

You can view the live JASON broadcast on PeachStar's Channel 420, January 29 - February 9, Monday thru Friday at 10 AM, 11:30 AM, 1 PM, 2:30 PM and 4 PM daily. For more information on the JASON Project, visit the National Science Center web site.

and a New Leader for PeachStar

Blaine Carpenter has been named Division Director for PeachStar Education Services, succeeding Janie Smith, who has retired after 30 years of service. Blaine previously served as the division's Distance Education Consultant responsible for postsecondary and higher education distance learning projects. He came to GPB from Clayton College & State University (CCSU), where he is Academic Director of Distance Learning and Professor of Biology.

Blaine earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan, a master's from Marshall University and a Ph.D. in Biology-Ecology from the University of Cincinnati. He has chaired the CCSU Distance Learning Advisory Committee, Instructional Technology Committee and is a member of the Georgia Board of Regents committee for Institutional Distance Education Administrators and the GSAMS Technical Advisory Committee. He is the author of numerous articles and papers on critical thinking and distance education. Even before coming to GPB, Blaine worked closely with PeachStar to build CCSU's Going the Distance program, a collaboration between colleges and universities, the Public Broadcasting Service's Adult Learning Service and public broadcasting stations.

"I am excited about the opportunities and the challenges that this new position offers," said Blaine. "PeachStar has a proud tradition of providing programming and other educational services to Georgia classrooms and to all of our state's life-long learners. My twin goals are to expand those services and the use of those services in classrooms across Georgia."

New Leadership for Georgia Public Broadcasting

James M. Lyle is Georgia Public Broadcasting's (GPB) new Executive Director, succeeding Claude Vickers who has retired. Lyle, who previously served as GPB's Deputy Director, took over his new responsibilities November 1. After Vickers announced his plans to retire, Governor Roy Barnes recommended that Lyle be appointed as the new Executive Director. The Georgia Public Telecommunication Commission (GPTC), the state policy-making authority that oversees Georgia Public Broadcasting and its networks, made the appointment official in October.