Like East Fayette,

Peachtree City Elementary is proud of its teachers and staff for all of

the hard work they put into meeting PfP objectives last year. Out of 20

goals that the school had outlined and submitted to the PfP program, only

four were not achieved. The school will also distribute its winnings to

every employee.

School officials

decided to surprise teachers with the news during a recent faculty meeting.

Each teacher was handed a sealed envelope and was told that it contained

a door prize. At the end of the meeting, teachers were instructed to open

their envelopes where they found a note that read, "We did it."

"Everyone

was asking, 'What did we do?'" said assistant Principal Bonnie Hancock.

"After letting them wonder about it for a few minutes we shouted,

'We got Pay for Performance!' Everyone was so excited."

Rising Starr

Middle made history with its win by becoming the first secondary school

in the county to receive a PfP award. Principal Barbara Bakelaar says

the money will be distributed to every employee in the school and that

a portion of the award might be set aside to help purchase equipment or

fund projects.

"It's

just so incredible. The students and staff have worked so very hard. They

are the ones that really deserve this," said Bakelaar.

Rising Starr

was the last school in the county to learn it had received the award.

The delay was because some of its performance objectives were tied to

students' test score performance. The PfP program could not a make decision

regarding the school's award until all test scores had been examined.

"Rising

Starr's test scores were some of the most impressive that we have seen,"

said Marion Dabney, Ph.D., who oversees the PfP program for the state

Board of Education. "We are absolutely delighted to give this award

to the school."

Winning PfP

is no easy feat. To attain a PfP award, a school must identify and subsequently

meet a comprehensive set of exemplary performance objectives. Performance

objectives must be developed in four categories: academic achievement,

client involvement, educational programming and resource development.

Schools with

approved applications to participate in the program have a school year

to achieve the performance objectives. At the end of the school year,

a final report must be submitted which documents the status for each performance

objective in the approved application.

Not every school

that gets approved to participate in PfP ends up winning the award. Each

performance objective is given a weight and to receive an award, at least

80 percent of the total weights in the approved application must be successfully

achieved.

"I want

to offer my congratulations to the schools in Fayette County. I can't

thank them enough for their hard work and dedication to their students,"

said Dabney.

Schools receiving

approved applications to participate in PfP for the 2001-2002 academic

year are East Fayette Elementary, Fayette Middle, Flat Rock Middle and

Rising Starr Middle Schools.

The PfP program

provides a group incentive award to schools that demonstrate exemplary

performance and collaboration. The program is open to all K-12 public

schools in Georgia. PfP awards are made to schools rather than to individuals.

The program is conducted in accordance with state law and State Board

of Education rule.