This month, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) released Achievement Scores for the 2020-21 school year. GaDOE Achievement Scores are an alternate performance measure being used for the 2020-21 school year due to the lack of College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) data. Achievement scores are generated for each subject/grade band combination using Georgia Milestones Assessment data and help families and stakeholders understand a school’s academic performance. The SCSC expects state charter schools to academically outperform their comparison districts, in line with the SCSC mission of providing students with a better educational opportunity than they would otherwise receive in traditional district schools. Achievement Scores are one way to satisfy SCSC academic accountability for the 2020-21 school year.

The SCSC staff wishes our state charter schools, partners and friends a warm and happy holiday season. As we reflect on this year, we are reminded of the incredible educational opportunities and experiences that state charters provide to help students grow and achieve. It is our honor and privilege to continue working with you all, and we are excited to see what 2022 has in store!

Applications for SCSC Early Feedback Program are now open. The purpose of the SCSC Early Feedback Program is to provide an opportunity for charter petitioners to obtain clarification regarding the SCSC’s charter application expectations in order to make meaningful changes to their FY22 applications prior to the April 15, 2022 submission deadline.

For additional details regarding the program, please refer to the Early Feedback Program Guide linked below. Applicants may request participation in the SCSC Early Feedback Program by submitting the enrollment form linked below by email to Kristen.Easterbrook@scsc.georgia.gov. The deadline for submitting an enrollment form is February 11, 2022, at 5:00 pm ET.

The next SCSC monthly board meeting is scheduled for January 26, 2022, at 10 AM. A list of upcoming meetings for 2022 can be found on the meetings page of the SCSC website.

The SCSC will host an in-person, half-day training to help new schools plan for staffing and hiring as well as student recruitment. The training will be held on January 19, 2022.

Please see the trainings page on the SCSC’s website for more details.

This year, the SCSC will be offering Governance Training opportunities in two parts. The first will be through a live, in-person session and the second will be a live session held virtually. The second virtual session will be held on January 25, 2022. In order to fully participate in SCSC training, board members should plan to attend one of the in-person session dates as well as one of the live virtual sessions.

Please see the trainings page on the SCSC’s website for more details.

The SCSC held its first virtual governance training for FY22. Please see below to review the materials presented.

GACA’s leadership team took some time out to focus on the heart for the holidays. With educators being the heart of their school, they asked everyone to acknowledge those in the room who have made an impact on them, especially over the last school year, with a rose. As the day progressed, staff were pampered with giveaways, including hotel stays and music therapy sessions. Staff then broke into groups to go on a nature walk, do yoga or jazzercise, create a charcuterie board, paint, make a vision board, focus on holiday crafts for their homes, enjoy some free time or relax with a holiday movie.

International Academy of Smyrna (IAS) is focused on developing Scholars who are change agents, critical thinkers, and well-rounded citizens. With this service-learning project, they focused on the needs of people in the community experiencing homelessness. IAS Scholars learned about the causes of homelessness, factors that impact homeless communities and the types of donations that can make the most impact. IAS Scholars also participated in a donation drive where items will be gathered together and provided to people in need.

Schoolhouse.world, a free peer tutoring platform founded by Sal Khan of Khan Academy, has partnered with State Charter Schools Foundation of Georgia to offer free, live math homework help every weekday from 8 to 10 pm ET.

Please share this with parents and students as a free, optional resource!

Give a unique gift this holiday season with exclusive merchandise from the State Charter Schools Foundation (SCSF). Proceeds from the sale of shirts & hoodies will provide support for state charter schools, including literacy initiatives & wellness programs for students & teachers. Shop here.

State charter schools are enjoying donuts thanks to your generosity! Thank you for making Donuts for Teachers a big success with a total of 256 dozen donuts!

At this time, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) does not expect there to be a waiver for scoliosis screening for the 2021-2022 school year. This means scoliosis screening should proceed as it has in past years. Please continue to encourage families to utilize the new Form 4400 and decrease the need for mass screening in schools. Parents and caregivers can use Form 4400 to have their student screened or use it to opt-out of in-school screening.

Please feel free to reach out to Elin Brumbaugh RN, BSN, DPH Deputy Chief Nurse – School Health Elin.Brumbaugh@dph.ga.govif you have any questions or concerns regarding scoliosis screening for this school year.

House Bill 32, sponsored by Representative Dave Belton, was launched in early December and is being managed by the Teacher and Leader Support and Development team. 100 schools, including four state charter schools, have been identified as eligible to participate in the program. Teachers that have been newly hired at the participating schools and who are teaching in a high-need subject area for their RESA are eligible to apply. If accepted, the teachers can receive a $3,000 credit on their Georgia Income Tax beginning in the 2022 tax year and can remain eligible to receive the credit for five years. See below for the list of participating state charter schools and the application link. For additional information, contact Laine Reichert at lainereichert@doe.k12.ga.us.

Participating State Charter Schools:

GaDOE's new statewide professional learning platform, Georgia Learns, is currently migrating courses from the current in-house Professional Learning (PL) application with complete migration planned for January 2022. Georgia Learns provides quality professional learning courses for LEA staff. Staff may access Professional Learning through the PL tab/file within SLDS. Read the instructions on how to access the PL courses. 

Make plans to join the Georgia Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency and the Georgia Department of Education Office of Whole Child Supports on June 21-23, 2022 for the 2022 Georgia School Safety & Homeland Security Conference. The conference will be held at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center and will feature sessions on a wide range of topics including cyber security and HB 156 Reporting, threat assessment training, social media threats and updates to the school safety plan template. Click this link to sign up for more information! Please contact schoolsafety@doe.k12.ga.us with any questions.

On March 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education approved Georgia’s waiver of several accountability, school identification, and report card requirements. (For more information about the waiver, please review the 2021 Accountability Waiver FAQ 3.29.21.) Though there will be no 2021 CCRPI summary score for the state, school districts, or schools, some CCRPI-related data, such as achievement rates, participation rates, and graduation rates, for example, will still be calculated and publicly reported by Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE).

Due to this, GaDOE is providing schools and districts with a valuable accountability resource – the Live Data Verification tool. The Live Data Verification tool, available now in the CCRPI portal with demographic and attendance data and provides summary data from Student Record that updates nightly as your district updates the data. Additional Student Record data (such as students in the 2021 4-year graduation cohort) and data from Student Class data will populate in the tool in May. This tool will assist district staff and principals in verifying the accuracy of the data submitted in Student Record and Student Class before the data collections close. The accuracy of such data is critical to accurate accountability reporting.

View the user guide at your convenience.The user guide, training webinar, and webinar PPT handout for this tool are also available for download on the MyGaDOE portal.

To access the Live Data Verification tool, log on to the MyGaDOE portal, click on the CCRPI link, and then choose Live Data Verification. For help accessing the portal and with any functionality issues, contact the GaDOE Information Systems Customer Support Center at 1-800-869-1011 or dticket@doe.k12.ga.us. Contact the GaDOE accountability specialist assigned to assist your district with questions regarding the data.

The State Charter Schools Commission’s (SCSC) FY22 Reporting Deadlines calendar is available on the SCSC website here. 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 ensure that it maintains all dates as accurately as possible. However, all schools are encouraged to stay up to date of 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.

REGISTER NOW for GCSA’s Financial Management Certification Program. You can still sign up for the last remaining course of the semester Thursday, Jan. 14 & Friday, Jan. 15! GCSA will offer any courses that you miss during our spring semester. This year’s program is offered virtually, and each course is split into two, four-hour sessions in the same week.

The progress monitoring reporting window will open on January 1, 2022, for LEAs to report on the implementation progress of their FY22 CLIP goals and action steps for the first half of the school year. Both CLIP Online and Streamlined CLIP (S-CLIP) LEAs will complete this short report in the SLDS CLIP application. For additional information, please review the FY22 CLIP Resources and look for the "Progress Monitoring Application - Navigation Guide".

Upcoming Events 

Event information and access can be found on the Year-at-a-Glance calendar.

The SCSC is seeking candidates for a Charter Development Program Coordinator and Administrative Assistant to join our team.