State Charter Schools Commission Adopts Inaugural Strategic Plan |
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The State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia (SCSC) Board of Commissioners adopted the agency's inaugural Strategic Plan at the June board meeting. The SCSC Strategic Plan: Growing a Brighter Future, was created following the adoption of the SCSC Vision in September 2021: |
Innovative and superior charter schools advancing education in every community.
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The Strategic Plan has five main areas of focus: expanding access to high-quality, public charter school options in communities with few or no options, increasing state charter school options for middle and high school grade-bands, identifying and promoting academically superior state charter schools, supporting the pre-opening success of newly approved state charter schools, and ensuring a strong SCSC infrastructure is in place to effectively execute the agency's mission and vision and adopted plan.
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The SCSC held its June board meeting on June 29, 2022. At the June meeting, Executive Director Lauren Holcomb announced the upcoming National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) conference. Kristen Easterbrook, Director of Charter Development, reminded all schools of the upcoming LEA reporting training and governance training deadline for FY22. Erin Wright, Associate General Counsel, shared the status of the FY22 petition cycle. Director of Research and Evaluation Katie Manthey shared the status of NACSA's pilot evaluation of the Georgia Standards and Principals for Quality Charter Authorizing for the SCSC.
Additionally, Chief Operations Officer Morgan Felts presented the SCSC's strategic plan and FY23 operational budget and their respective adoption recommendations to the SCSC board. The SCSC board approved the staff's strategic plan and budget adoptions.
The next SCSC monthly board meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2022, at 10 AM. A list of upcoming meetings for 2022 can be found on the meetings page of the SCSC website.
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LEA Reporting Training
The SCSC will hold LEA reporting training on Wednesday, July 13 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m in its Atlanta offices. The target audience for this training is school leaders and data reporting staff.
The goal of this training is to familiarize state charter school leaders with MyGaDOE and its applications. This entails ensuring that appropriate staff members are credentialed and able to access MyGaDOE; attendees understand GUIDE and; attendees are prepared to report critical components in the Data Collections applications. This half-day training is required for Year Zero (pre-operational) state charter school superintendents, principals, administrators, and data reporting personnel. Operational state charter school leaders and data reporting personnel who are new to their role or who would like training on data reporting are encouraged to attend. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops and MyGaDOE log-in credentials to the training. Sign up here for this training.
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2022 Data, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Conference |
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The 2022 Georgia Department of Education's Data, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Conference will be held on August 23-24 in Athens, Georgia. The target audience includes data coordinators, technology leaders, district and school administrators, and other support staff who work to increase technology integration, privacy and security, state and federal reporting related to funding, accountability, or education program management. This conference offers three (3) conference tracks for attendees: Data Collections, Analysis, and Reporting; Data Privacy and Security; and Technology Leadership, Learning, and Development.
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Conversations on COVID-19 Prevention with Exemplary Charter Schools
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The CDC's ongoing relationships with charter schools across the United States, which allow charter schools to share their insight on COVID-19 prevention strategies and health disparities facing students, has strengthened the CDC’s awareness of charter schools’ needs and best practices related to COVID-19.
On March 30, 2022, the CDC had a conversation with Derek Bolton, Director of Operations at Ivy Preparatory Academy, to discuss their initial challenges and the exemplary efforts to ensure the wellbeing of their students, staff and community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Welcome to the New SCSF Fellow |
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The SCSF is excited to welcome Daniel Glenn as the organization's first graduate fellow. Daniel is pursuing a Master's of Public Policy at Georgia State University and most recently completed an internship with the SCSC. His past experience includes serving as a high school teacher and theater director. Daniel will be leading several of the SCSF's signature programs, assisting with operations, and facilitating the SCSF's Literacy Council. Please extend Daniel a warm welcome! |
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Affordable Connectivity Program |
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The Federal Communications Commission announced that 20 of the nation's internet providers have committed to lowering costs for low-income households, a step that will essentially provide free high-speed internet for those participating in the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Affordable Connectivity Program lowers internet costs for eligible families by up to $30 a month through grant funding. For Georgia residents to get their share of the funding, families need to sign up for themselves.
Communicating about this program to eligible families is the largest barrier to implementing this program. The ExcelinEd team has developed resources to share to help students whose families may qualify for this free- and reduced-priced internet service.
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FY23 Reporting Calendar & Upcoming Deadlines |
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The Georgia Department of Education has released the FY23 Reporting Deadlines calendar. Please note that most deadlines are established by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) and are subject to change. The SCSC makes every attempt to maintain all dates as accurately as possible. However, all schools are encouraged to stay up to date on any changes to the timeline made by GaDOE. Any failure by a state charter school to meet deadlines established and enforced by the SCSC and GaDOE will be reflected in the school’s assessment through the SCSC Comprehensive Performance Framework. Please see below for upcoming data collection cycles.
July Dates:
- Jul 7 - Aug 16: GUIDE Collection
- Jul 12 - Aug 16: Data Collection Survey
- July 14: Student Class (SLDS Profile)
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Funding & Professional Development Opportunities |
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GaDOE Accountability
Lunch & Learn
GaDOE Accountability Lunch and Learn webinars are held the third Wednesday of each month through November from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Register for the upcoming session by clicking the links below. SCSC accountability points of contact should be sure to tune in for important information related to accountability data reporting and CCRPI.
Please note, the GaDOE Accountability Specialist assigned to your school may have changed. Please review the Accountability Specialist List for the most current information.
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GaDOE Professional
Learning Events
Starting August 12, the Georgia Department of Education will host its first Academy of New Federal Program Leaders informational sessions. This event will be a year-long series of monthly informational sessions designed to support new leaders in navigating program requirements, guidance, and deadlines. For more information on registration and topics to be discussed in Session 1, please visit Academy of New Federal Program Leaders, Session 1.
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For real-time updates and announcements: |
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The State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia (SCSC) is a state-level, independent charter school authorizing entity. The SCSC has the power to approve or deny petitions for state charter schools and renew, nonrenew, or terminate state charter school contracts in accordance with Georgia law. |
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Copyright © 2022 State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia, All rights reserved. |
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