ATLANTA – The state Board of Education has posted a new set of English and language arts (ELA) standards and asked the public to weigh in by May 1.
The public comment period is the next step in a lengthy process of revising the state’s standards for ELA education across all grade levels.
“Truly, the documents that you have before you represent the collective voice, the collective work, the collective expertise of educators in Georgia,” said April Aldridge, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning at the Georgia Department of Education, during a board meeting last week.
“One of the things that we really knew the public said we needed to work on was clarifying language … making sure that the terminology was consistent.”
One major change is the introduction of a new category of standards – called “foundations” – for kindergarten through 5th grade. These standards are designed to ensure Georgia students develop strong literacy skills in the early grades and include a focus on phonics skills. The General Assembly passed legislation last week also aimed at bolstering early literacy in Georgia.
The other standards are divided across three domains: language, practices and texts.
The “practices” category has been redesigned to stretch across K-12 rather than being grade-specific.
The practices standards specify that students will develop their identities as readers and writers and learn to interpret written materials in context. One…
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