Category Archives: Board Policy

GAC Accreditation

Posted on October 6, 2014 by | Comments Off on GAC Accreditation

Pursuant to state law (O.C.G.A. § 20-3-519) in order to qualify for the HOPE Scholarship, a student must attend a school that is accredited by SACS (AdvancEd) or The Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC).
Since 2013 board reps have been feeling the heat from Terry Nall (Dunwoody City Councilman), parents and taxpayers to obtain a secondary accreditation from GAC.  A long time resident of South DeKalb told me it is a commonly held belief in her area that GAC/dual accreditation is somehow seen as a first step in a process to break off into smaller school districts.  In a contentious debate at the 07/01/2013 DeKalb Schools Board Meeting, the board approved an action item for DeKalb Schools to pursue dual accreditation.
State Of The System
Last week school superintendent Michael Thurmond gave the State Of The System speech where he read through this document and provided commentary. He discussed the following timeline for GAC accreditation.  DeKalb’s high schools could have dual accreditation as early as March 2015.
September 11, 2014 – Met with a GAC Consultant to discuss plans for moving forward with the accreditation process in our district.
September 24, 2014 – An internal group of district leaders consisting of senior team members and department heads met to brainstorm strategies for providing district documentation to our high schools in support of the accreditation process.
October-January – District leaders will assist our high schools with compiling evidence of standards compliance in preparation for GAC school visits from January 26-28, 2015.
March, 2015 – GAC Board of Commissioners meeting in Macon, at which time, the DeKalb accreditation application will be on the meeting agenda and DeKalb will receive the final decision on our high schools’ accreditation application.

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Posted in Board Policy, Dual Accreditation

Student Promotion – Whose Decision Is It?

Posted on September 3, 2014 by | Comments Off on Student Promotion – Whose Decision Is It?

Question: Who should decide which students will be promoted and which students will be held back? The state, county, school council, principal, teacher, parent … what do you think?
Who actually makes that decision has become increasingly unclear this year. The Georgia Academic Placement and Promotion Policy requires students pass various tests to be promoted to the next grade. Georgia Milestones will replace CRCT and EOCT this year and will allegedly be harder to pass.
The state is not enforcing those standards this year according to Wayne Washington.  Washington wrote in the AJC that New standardized test and end-of-course exams won’t be used for promotion this year. State officials are saying, “This year, students in grades three, five and eight won’t have to perform at grade level on the reading portion of the test to be promoted. Fifth- and eighth-graders also won’t have to perform at grade level on the math portion to be promoted.”
Apparently the promotion requirements have always been routinely ignored.  State education department spokesman Matt Cardoza said, “Students who failed those tests in the past could appeal to local panels, which often approved the students’ promotion”.
This is much to the chagrin of Byron Merritt, President SW DeKalb High School PTSA. In a statement to the board in July, Merritt said, “We have 88 9th grade students coming to SW DeKalb HS on waivers this August. We have 80 9th grade and 10th grade students not reading on grade level. Our graduation rate has dropped to 7th from the bottom in the county. “
The state is encouraging local school districts to develop their own policies to determine which students should be moved to the next grade. It is the policy of the DeKalb County Board of Education to comply with the requirement of the Georgia Academic Placement and Promotion Policy. DeKalb Schools has not communicated how they will determine which students are promoted and which students are held back.
References
§ 20-2-282. (OCGA) Georgia Academic Placement and Promotion Policy
Hasta La Vista CRCT and EOCT
New standardized test, end-of-course exams won’t be used for promotion
eboard link icon DeKalb County School District Policy IHE: Promotion and Retention

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Posted in Board Policy, Graduation Rates, Standardized Testing