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(Eift Aiiuancg The ADVANCE, September 7, 2022/Page 11A State Department of Education to pilot new teacher evaluation system By Rebecca Grapevine Staff Reporter Capitol Beat The Georgia Depart ment of Education (DOE) Wednesday announced a pilot project to test a new method for evaluating teacher performance. The new program will be called GaLEADS. It will be tried in a dozen Georgia school districts beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. Districts will be able to apply to participate in the pilot beginning Thurs day. “I am fully commit ted to developing a teach er evaluation model that treats teachers as profes sionals and helps them succeed throughout their careers, to the benefit of students - rather than a pu nitive ‘gotcha’ system,” said State School Superinten dent Richard Woods. “This pilot is an op portunity for proof of con cept and will allow us to work with school districts throughout the state to cre ate an evaluation system that’s designed for teacher growth.” The DOE recently published a report explor ing the reasons for teacher burnout in Georgia. Teach ers said they face unrealis tic performance expecta tions, especially given the learning disruption caused by the COVID pandemic. “Coming out of the pandemic, the desire to ‘return to normal’ has also come with an unrealistic expectation ... without giving teachers the time, support, resources, and compassion to meet stu dents at their current level,” the report said. The Professional As sociation of Georgia Edu cators (PAGE) agreed that the new pilot could help address teachers' concerns about the evaluation sys tem. “PAGE is encouraged by the announced teacher evaluation pilot,” said Mar garet Ciccarelli, director of legislative services for the organization. Data from a 2021 statewide survey indicated that 45% of educators felt supervisor feedback under the current system was not helpful to their instruction al practices, Ciccarelli said. “A more effective Georgia educator evalu ation system will better serve students by support ing teachers at every stage of their career, recognizing that the coaching needs of beginning teachers differ from the needs of skilled veteran educators,” she said. Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, called for increased teacher involve ment in revamping the state's teacher-evaluation program. "Classroom teachers are the experts and must be the principal voices speak ing to the necessary sup ports available for them selves and their colleagues,” she said. “We look forward to working with the depart ment to ensure that current classroom educators are involved throughout the process." Republican Woods was first elected state school superintendent in 2014. He is running for a third term against Demo crat Alisha Thomas Searcy. Searcy hit back at Wednesday’s announce ment about the new teach er-evaluation program, calling it an election gim mick with questionable timing. “Why is the current state superintendent, who has been in office for al most eight years, deciding that now, 69 days before the election, he wants to make teacher evaluations a priority?” Searcy asked. “This has been a concern for teachers for at least eight years.” Searcy said teachers should be involved in re vamping the teacher-evalu ation process. “Educators, students, and parents deserve a state school superintendent who is a collaborator and who seeks the feedback of teachers,” she said. This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation. UGA places 10th in national ranking of public universities Kemp announces $250 million for parks and recreation in low-income communities By Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News Service The University of Georgia is ranked 10th on a new list of top public col leges and universities in the country. The list, released by the rankings platform Niche this week, rates more than 500 schools based on aca demic, admissions, finan cial, and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education. UGA scored high marks for academics, value, diversity, and athletics. “Niche’s ranking af firms that the University of Georgia is a powerhouse in both academics and athlet ics,” UGA President Jere Morehead said. “We have made signifi cant strides in recent years through strategic invest ments in faculty hires, new and renovated research space, as well as continued enhancements to the quali ty of the living and learning experience for undergrad uates. Those investments are paying off, helping our students to maximize the value of their UGA de grees.” UGA boasts a reten tion rate - the percentage of students returning for their second year of studies - of 95%. Seventy-two percent of students complete their degrees within four years, while 88% finish within six years. UGA also welcomed its largest and one of its most academically quali fied freshman classes for the fall semester. More than 6,200 new first-year students started classes two weeks ago, selected from a record number of 40,000 applicants. The incoming class av eraged a 4.12 high-school grade point average while posting an average SAT score of 1,384 and average ACT score of 32. The top public uni versity on the Niche list this year was UCLA. The University of Florida is the only other Southeastern Conference school in the top 10, which also included the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia and Georgia Tech. This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation. By Rebecca Grapevine Staff Reporter Capitol Beat Gov. Brian Kemp an nounced Tuesday he is al locating around $250 mil lion to help low-income Georgia communities improve parks, sidewalks, recreation facilities, and healthy food access. A statement from the governor’s office said in vestment in infrastructure like parks and sidewalks has been connected to bet ter health and decreased mortality from COVID and other illnesses. “Though we have long since turned the corner on the pandemic, we know there are still some linger ing public health impacts of Covid-19 that are broad er than the disease itself,” Kemp said. “They include mental health challenges and unhealthy physical conditions caused by isola tion.” Kemp said keeping parks and recreation facili ties open during the CO VID pandemic allowed Georgians to continue to exercise and get fresh air. “We were met with re sistance at times on this ap proach, but we prevailed in giving both Georgians and numerous out-of-state visi tors safe options,” Kemp said. “By carefully investing these funds, we’re help ing communities further move past the effects of the pandemic and become healthier.” The $250 million will be awarded through a grant program. Local and county governments as well as non-profits can apply. The projects must be located in low-income communities. Each approved project will be eligible to receive up to $2 million. Applica tions will be accepted from Sept. 1 to Nov. 18 and a virtual applicant work shop will be held on Sept. 6. More information about applying can be found on the program’s website. The money comes from federal COVID relief funds provided to the state under the American Res cue Plan Act. BREWTONk PARKER COLLEGE Featuring President’s c 5WTON-PARKER COLLEGE October 18 th , 2022 6:30 pm First Baptist Church of Vidalia 107 E 2nd St Vidalia, GA 30474 _ HnSSss For sponsorship and ticket information, please visit www.bpc.edu/presidentsgala or scan the QR code above,