You have 30 days to submit comment on Georgia’s new education plan

The public has 30 days to submit comments about the state’s tentative plan, released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Education, to implement the nation’s new federal education law.

The comment period ends July 14.

President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act in December. ESSA replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, which became law in 2002 under President George W. Bush.

Last year, state superintendent Richard Woods and GaDOE staff conducted seven public forums around Georgia to explain and receive input about ESSA. Committees then considered the collected comments, as well as a survey, emails and social medic sessions, and used that input to draft the state’s tentative plan. The committees included teachers, students, parents, administrators, higher education officials and business and community leaders.

“I deeply appreciate the involvement of many of Georgia’s teachers, parents, school and district representatives, and community members in the ESSA public feedback process,” Woods said in a news release. “I want to ask and encourage everyone who has already been involved to stay engaged with us as this work continues, and for anyone who has not yet been involved, I would ask you to be a part of the public review process moving forward. We can’t create a plan that serves students well unless we’re all working together.”

Here’s how to send the GaDOE a comment about its tentative ESSA plan:

▪ Read the plan at gadoe.org/essa.

▪ Click the links to read overviews of the plan’s key areas.

▪ On the website, starting June 27, watch a video explaining the plan.

▪ Also on the website, click on the link to provide your feedback via SurveyMonkey.

▪ Visit www.gadoe.org/signup to register for updates about the ESSA implementation.

The GaDOE timeline calls for sending the ESSA plan to the U.S. Department of Education in September.

“Broadly, Georgia’s draft ESSA plan supports a common framework of improvement that places the whole child at the center, focusing and organizing the work of the department and engaging new partners in the school improvement process,” the GaDOE explained in the news release. “It moves Georgia’s accountability system beyond a focus on test scores alone, allowing a more holistic view of district and school performance. It takes a more personalized approach to educational goals and accountability, establishes ambitious but attainable goals for groups of students, while rewarding schools that move students academically from one level to the next. The plan supports the alignment of tools, resources, initiatives, programs and efforts so they work in a more effective and efficient way to ultimately impact the classroom.

NCLB required states to create accountability systems for their public schools, including mandatory tests that expected all students to achieve the same academic standards. By 2010, educators had convinced enough legislators that requirement had become unrealistic, and the Obama administration joined the bipartisan effort to find ways to improve the law.

As a result, ESSA reduces the number of mandatory statewide standardized tests and increases the emphasis on college and career readiness. Instead of the federal government setting student performance targets and basing school ratings on only test scores, ESSA allows states to formulate their accountability system based on multiple measurements. Instead of one-size-fits-all intervention for struggling schools and students dictated by the federal government, ESSA allows states to develop their own interventions.

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 4:30 PM with the headline "You have 30 days to submit comment on Georgia’s new education plan."