Education reforms to include pay and testing
Two local teachers are helping to review a packet of recommended changes to state law.
Two local teachers chosen to help vet the recommendations of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Education Reform Commission heard via conference call this week about their duties.
April Cummings, a giftedclass teacher at Glenwood Primary, said their advisory group of 30 from North Georgia is being asked for input on initiatives aimed at keeping good educators and students in the system.
“There are 46 different recommendations in the Education Reform Commission’s document,” Cummings said. “We are supposed to focus our attention on teacher recruitment and retention, redesign of the teacher compensation model and the Move On When Ready initiative, which focuses on students’ competency.”
Rebekah Nichols, a special education math teacher at Coosa Middle, also serves on the advisory committee. She said she is happy that so much thought was put into selecting different types of educators.
“The subjects and the levels a teacher teaches can really bring a variety of views to the table,” she said.
Appointed in January 2015, the ERC spent a sometimes-contentious year studying the state’s education system — including its funding formula — to determine how best to improve the system, increase access to early learning programs, recruit and retain highquality instructors and expand school options.
Deal is expected to present a slate of legislative proposals drawn from their report when the Georgia General Assembly reconvenes in January 2017.
Nichols said she was stunned when she received notice of her selection for the advisory committee.
“When I realized it meant I was going to be part of this group that was going to help guide the future of Georgia education, I was really honored,” she said.
The state was broken up into three regions: north, metro and south, with 30 teachers selected from each region.
The North region will meet in Gainesville at the University of North Georgia on July 19 with Rep. Amy Carter, R-Valdosta, to discuss their thoughts on these issues.
They will also have a follow-up webinar on Sept. 8 to clarify the input they want to offer and then a final conference call on Oct. 5.
Teachers from the metro and south regions will also be holding these same types of meetings on different days and concentrating on different components of the education reform committee’s recommendations.