September 17, 2007

Dear Principal:

It is an honor to announce the results of the fourth annual Governor's Cup Challenge! state map.

First and foremost, I offer my heartiest congratulations to our state's five class winners that have made impressive three-year average gains in SAT scores:

• Class A: Treutlen Middle and High School, Treutlen County
  
• Class AA: Mitchell-Baker High School, Mitchell County
  
• Class AAA: Perry High School, Houston County
  
• Class AAAA: Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, Catoosa County
  
• Class AAAAA: Alpharetta High School, Fulton County

I look forward to visiting each of these winning schools to award a Governor's Cup trophy, and I am proud of their dedication to SAT improvement.

Likewise, I applaud the 33 high schools that have earned their place as regional winners in this competition based on three-year average gains in SAT scores. In addition, I extend my congratulations to the five high school class winners that have earned the top three-year average scores in Georgia on the SAT in critical reading and math sections.

Thanks to the consistent efforts of students, teachers, administrators, and parents, our SAT scores continue to gain on the national average. More impressively, these gains are the result of 69% of our high school seniors taking the SAT, which is significantly higher than many other states against whose scores we are compared.

I believe that the Governor's Cup competition focuses attention on a critical education need in our state: boosting SAT scores to enable more of our students to have access to postsecondary opportunities. It highlights our best performers so that practitioners may learn from them, and it presents an opportunity to celebrate success in the face of increased expectations and educational challenges.

School communities are not in this alone. The state provides all Georgia high school students with free access to online SAT preparation tools at www.satonlinecourseschool.com. I hope you will encourage your students to use this tool in conjunction with www.GAcollege411.org to help them begin planning for college. In addition, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) provides a host of resources to help boost SAT scores, including workshops and training.

Please join me in thanking Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. for its support and continued sponsorship of the Governor's Cup. Once again, I am aware of the challenges inherent in SAT improvement. I hope that you will continue your quest to improve your school's and our state's SAT scores. I extend my best wishes to you, your staff, and your students for an outstanding academic year. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,