Recently, UGA’s College of Education released a survey to 2014 graduates with a teacher-preparation degree, and found out that 62% of respondents, or 325 graduates, were hired by a Georgia city or county school district. Among these districts, Gwinnett County Public Schools hired 75 first-year teachers from UGA. Fulton and Clarke County didn’t disappoint, hiring 34 each. 

In 2013, only 51% of new teachers took jobs in Georgia schools. This steep 11% increase is chalked up to economic improvements. Says Jack Parish, the College of Education’s associate dean for outreach and engagement, “School districts recognize the preparedness of our graduates and actively recruit them to our school districts.”

There have also been 45 new schools built since 2013, and all of these new schools need teachers. Gwinnett and Forsyth counties, which are experiencing a lot of population growth, are two counties building new schools. This is good news for education graduates who reported in 2014 that of the 1,234 College of Education graduates, almost all of them had some type of employment after graduation.

The original article can be found at the Gwinnett Daily Post website.