Kemp, Woods lead effort on education standards

ATLANTA — Georgia is beginning a citizen-led, student focused effort to review and revise the academic standards used in Georgia’s K-12 public schools, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.

These efforts, undertaken by Kemp’s office in partnership with the Georgia Department of Education and State School Superintendent Richard Woods, will address the English Language Arts and mathematics standards currently known as the Georgia Standards of Excellence.

“To ensure every Georgian is given the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed, State School Superintendent Richard Woods and I are committed to developing quality academic standards in collaboration with teachers, parents, administrators, citizens and students,” Kemp said. “This process will ensure we eliminate the remnants of Common Core, reject the status quo and put students first.”

On July 23, the Georgia Department of Education sent out a survey to generate feedback on the current math and ELA standards. The survey remains open through Sept. 6.

To date, more than 17,000 Georgians, most of them teachers and parents, have responded.

In the months to come, the governor’s office and the GaDOE will convene a citizens review committee to ensure Georgians have a voice in the process, a working committee of teachers to analyze the feedback generated by the survey and an academic review committee to ensure the quality of the standards.

Woods is expected to consider these proposals and make a final recommendation to the state Board of Education.

“We need to ensure that our K-12 standards are age- and developmentally appropriate, and present a realistic amount of content for teachers to deliver in one year,” he said. “We are launching an intentional process to create truly Georgia-owned and developed standards, and I’m extremely appreciative of Governor Kemp’s leadership moving us in that direction.”

The GaDOE will utilize a staggered process, with time for teacher training and school transitions, to revise and implement the standards.

Updates will be posted regularly to a dedicated webpage, gadoe.org/standards. Results of the initial survey will be posted in September, followed by the establishment of the citizens review committee in October.

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