The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) is an American agency that governs public education in the state of Georgia. The department manages funding and testing for local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. The department is managed by the State Superintendent of Schools, a publicly elected position currently held by Richard Woods (since 2015). Former Superintendents of the department have included
Linda Schrenko
Linda Schrenko is a former superintendent of schools in the U.S. state of Georgia who was convicted on an embezzlement scheme and sentenced to 8 years in federal prison.
Biography
Schrenko was born on July 24, 1949, in Millen, Georgia. She r ...
William Bradley Bryant
William Bradley "Brad" Bryant was appointed superintendent of public schools for the U.S. state of Georgia by Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2010, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Kathy Cox. He considered a bid to run for superintendent as ...
,
John Barge
John D. Barge is the former superintendent of schools for the U.S. state of Georgia. He was a candidate for Governor of Georgia in the 2014 election, coming in third place in the Republican primary and receiving 11.5% of the vote.
In 2020, Bar ...
, and
Charles McDaniel
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
; the first superintendent was
John Randolph Lewis
Brigadier-General John Randolph Lewis (September 22, 1834February 8, 1900)''Under the Guardianship of the Nation: The Freedmen's Bureau and the Reconstruction of Georgia, 1865-1870 ', by Paul A. Cimbala; p. 225; published March 1, 2003 by University of Georgia Press
The department is headquartered in the 2054 Twin Towers East building at 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
Organization
The following five offices comprise the Georgia Department of Education: the Office of Standards, Instruction and Assessment, the Office of Finance and Business Operations, the Office of Policy and External Affairs, the Office of Education Support and Improvement, and the Office of Technology Services.
Office of Standards, Instruction and Assessment
The Office of Standards, Instructions and Assessment is made up of three Divisions: the Division of Standards Based Learning, which works to provide learning materials and instruction to assist teachers in making sure their students are prepared for graduation and beyond, the Division of Innovative Instruction, which provides educational programs and material for students, and the Division of Assessment and Accountability, which assesses student achievements and provides data to teachers and schools in order to better learn from their strengths and weaknesses.
Office of Finance and Business Operations
The Office of Finance and Business Operations has seven divisions: Account Services, Budget Services, Facility Services, Financial Review, Internal Support, Pupil Transportation and School Nutrition. For the most part these divisions see to the financial needs of the Department of Education and the schools in Georgia. However, the Pupil Transportation and School Nutrition divisions also work to interpret of laws and regulations and provide leadership and training assistance.
Office of Policy and External Affairs
The Office of Policy and External Affairs maintains divisions which deal with
charter schools
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
,
communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
,
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...
,
policy
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...
Several divisions make up the Office of Education Support and Improvement. Learning Support provides services to schools, teachers and students. Migrant Education works with eligible children in Georgia. School Improvement helps schools by putting together a "statewide system" of tools and resources.
Office of Technology Services
The Office of Technology Services is split into two divisions: the Instructional Technology division, which integrates technology into the classroom and the Information Technology division, which builds infrastructures so information can be given to decision makers in the state.Georgia Department of Education - Office of Technology Services , Accessed June 21, 2008
State exams
The State of Georgia requires students to take several state tests: the
Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests The Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) were a set of tests administered at public schools in the state of Georgia that are designed to test the knowledge of first through eighth graders in reading, English/language arts (ELA), and mathemat ...
,
End of Course Test
The End of Course Test (EOCT, EOC, or EOC Test) is an academic assessment conducted in many states by the State Board of Education. Georgia, for example, tests from the ninth to twelfth grades, and North Carolina tests for any of the four core clas ...
s,
Georgia High School Graduation Test
The Georgia High School Graduation Test, or GHSGT, was administered to all students in the eleventh grade in the US state of Georgia (U.S.), Georgia from 1991 to 2013. It determined whether or not a student was eligible to graduate from a Georgia h ...
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Georgia Alternate Assessment
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, and the
Georgia Writings Assessments
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
Rulings
In 2021 the Department of Education banned teaching that "indoctrinates" students about racism.
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...