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Cox wins OK to throw out old K-3 English curriculum

The State Board of Education voted last week to approve the newly revised Georgia Performance Standards curriculum for kindergarten through third grade English and language arts.

The vote marked completion of another step in the huge task of revamping the state’s entire public school curriculum, a key goal for State Superintendent Kathy Cox of Peachtree City.

“Approval of this important piece of our new curriculum moves us one step closer to achieving our goal which is to lead the nation in improving student achievement,” said Cox.

“Our state’s new curriculum is more focused and more rigorous than ever before, which will boost student learning in classrooms across our state.”

A revision team examined public comments and worked closely with college professors and national experts before making the following enhancements to the curriculum:

• More emphasis has been placed on reading from the very beginning of a student’s education. There is gradual growth towards a combined reading and writing focus by third grade.

• The standards are more grade-appropriate and more clearly explain to teachers what students should learn and be able to do.

á The curriculum provides a better foundation for the more complex topics that students will be expected to learn in later years. The sequence of the standards provides the necessary building blocks for future learning.

The strengthened curriculum will drive both instruction and assessment in Georgia’s schools, providing guidelines for teachers, students, and test makers. Under the new GPS, each course is rolled out over two years. The first year is spent helping teachers become comfortable with the new content, while the students continue to be taught and tested on the current (old) Quality Core Curriculum.

In the second year of roll out, the students will be taught and tested on the new GPS curriculum.

Training for the first pieces will begin this coming school year, with additional courses being added each year until full implementation is achieved in the 2008-2009 school year.

A timeline for the GPS phase-in is available online at www.georgiastandards.org

The new GPS Social Studies curriculum will go before the State Board of Education for final approval in October 2004.