About time.
August 18, 2008 - Georgia was notified July 1 that it is one of six states to be granted new No Child Left Behind flexibility by the federal government. Among the changes was the right for the state to step in more quickly and take charge of schools that fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress goals year after year.
As a result, Georgia is trying to hire 56 state directors to go to the lowest-achieving public schools to work alongside school officials.
State directors will be charged with meeting with teachers, doing benchmark testing to analyze student test data, sitting in classes to observe teachers, analyzing student and teacher attendance rates and discipline records and developing action plans if necessary, among other duties.The state-directed status also means a private tutoring option for students not meeting standards in reading, English or math. Those schools are also mandated to offer school transfers. At Weaver Middle, 93 students have requested a transfer this year, and 98 students asked to leave Southwest.
Directors will also help principals make decisions about replacing any members of the school staff.
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TT - Several of the schools are in their sixth, seventh and eighth year of "needs improvement" under NCLB.
See the Georgia Department of Education 2006-2007 Report Card for average salaries for Administrators, Support Personnel, and Teachers. (Click on i More Information to see what is included in support personnel.)
2007 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Overview Report.
Schools meeting AYP = 1764
Schools not meeting AYP = 374 (17.8% of the 2100 public schools)
