Educators, local government officials, parents and others with an interest in an updated education plan for Georgia students spent two hours offering feedback to Georgia Department of Education officials at a public forum Monday night at Piedmont College in Demorest.
The meeting was the second of eight feedback meetings for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) being held around the state through October; it was the only meeting scheduled in the northeastern part of the state.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods welcomed the 70-plus stakeholders in attendance, telling the group his goal is to do what is "best for our Georgia kids."
"What we are looking at doing is moving away from...the one size-fits-all box that we have lived in," Woods said. "Really when you look at No Child Left Behind or Race To The Top, they were pretty much the same type model - there was not a whole lot of difference."
Woods contends ESSA, signed into law in December 2015, offers more flexibility on the state and local level.
"The intent of ESSA is to dial back many overreaching federal requirements by providing states and local school districts flexibility and the ability to make decisions that are best for their students," said Woods, reading from comments made by U.S. senators who crafted the legislation.
Woods noted that there are some "non-negotiables" that Georgia - and all states - must include in their plans. Those include annual assessments for all students in grades 3 through 8 and one assessment at the high school level; an annual report on the performance of each school and each district; and, action plans to correct problems at any low-performing schools.
After the charge from Woods and from Ann Duffy of Education First, those at the meeting were given the opportunity to participate in break-out sessions, which focused on five different topics: assessment, accountability, education of the whole child, educator and leader development and federal programs to support school improvement.
"When we talk about building a plan by Georgians for Georgians, we are really serious about that," Duffy told the attendees. "This is an evening where we encourage you to not only listen, but also share both personal stories...and also your ideas for how to improve education in Georgia."
After his opening comments for the session, Woods spoke for a few minutes with AccessWDUN. He said the challenge is developing a plan that will work for all students, since Georgia has a number of different areas with different needs.
"You know, in some areas, we have high degrees of poverty and then also we have high degrees of vast wealth," Woods said. "Within the metro area, of course, you have a larger tax base and in some of the rural areas, not so much of a tax base. Transportation can be a big, big issue for some counties that have a large land mass. So, it's really looking at the dynamics of each and every school and each and every system...it's kind of a challenge...but it is where we are in our state."
Woods said the tentative deadline to have Georgia's plan ready to submit to federal officials is March 2017.
The Georgia Department of Education also plans to offer an additional public comment period on ESSA in January 2017.
For more details on the process, see the Georgia Department of Education website.
