In addition to addressing the long-term education challenges in our state, the PAGE Foundation is dedicated to helping aspiring and veteran teachers attain their career goals through programs such as National Board Certification and its Scholarship Program.

National Board Certification

National Board Certification is a demonstration of a candidate’s teaching practice as measured against high and rigorous standards established by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. To help candidates who aspire to become National Board Certification Teachers (NBCT), the PAGE Foundation provides training and peer support from successful NBC teachers. Through the financial support of donors, the PAGE Foundation offers seven NBCT workshop sites around the state. These workshops are open to all teachers regardless of their professional affiliation and at no cost. Since 1996 the Foundation has provided financial support for a limited number of $1,000 scholarships to qualified PAGE members who aspire to NBCT. The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the Professional Standards Commission of Georgia and the Georgia Teaching Center are partners with the PAGE Foundation in the NBCT program.

PAGE Foundation Scholarships

Scholarships are given to qualified PAGE members who aspire to become teachers or to veteran teachers who wish to enhance their academic careers. Since its inception in 1986, the PAGE Foundation Scholarship Program has awarded more than $240,000 in scholarships to promote the teaching profession.
     • 2001 brought the establishment of the first Honor Your Favorite Teacher endowed scholarship, given by an anonymous donor in honor of Betty J. Phillips, a Bibb County school board member and life-long educator.
     • The Wachovia Foundation established an endowed scholarship for individuals pursuing a career in the field of education.

Academic Programs of Excellence

The PAGE STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) program was created to focus public attention on Georgia’s outstanding students and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development. During the past 44 years, the STAR Program has honored more than 18,000 high school seniors who have in turn chosen their STAR Teachers to share in this recognition. PAGE was selected in 1994 by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to coordinate the statewide STAR program in association with the Chamber and the Georgia Department of Education. To obtain the STAR nomination, students must have the highest score in one sitting on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) taken through the November test date of their senior year and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students in their class. Each high school STAR Student is asked to name his/her STAR Teacher. In 2002 the program recognized 454 Georgia students (public and independent schools) and 454 Georgia teachers (public and independent schools). The program receives support from civic organizations and businesses at the local and district levels of competition. The competition culminates with an annual banquet at which all STAR district and local winners (attending) are recognized. District winners are interviewed, and the State STAR Student and State STAR Teacher are announced. This year’s competition had 19 district winners, with eight of those students scoring a perfect 1600 on a single administration of the SAT examination.

The PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon (GAD) is an academic competition comprised of 10 events for high school students. The program is unique because each nine-member team is made up of “A,” “B” and “C” students. Students compete as a team as well as individually. In a typical Decathlon competition, students are tested in six content areas: economics, fine arts, language and literature, mathematics, science and social studies. In addition, the students amass points in three communication events: speech, interview and essay. “Super Quiz,” the tenth event consists of two parts-a written test and the oral relay-held before an audience. Winners of the annual GAD State Competition earn the opportunity to represent Georgia at the United States Academic Decathlon National Finals. Decathlon was first sponsored by the PAGE Foundation in 1992. In 2005 more than 240 students from 27 Georgia high schools representing 23 school districts competed at the state level.

Begun in 1985, the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades features teams of middle school students from around the state fielding questions on subjects ranging from Georgia history to mathematics, science, literature and the performing arts. The questions are developed using the Georgia Middle School Curriculum. Teams compete throughout the state at the regional, semi-final and final competitions to earn the title of PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades State Champion. In 2005, 163 teams from 87 public school systems and 24 independent schools representing 82 counties competed in the overall state competition.