2022 Georgia Code
Title 20 - Education
Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education
Article 17 - Teachers and Other School Personnel
Part 10 - Professional Standards
§ 20-2-984. Professional Standards Commission — Authority to Create and Implement Standards and Procedures for Certifying Educational Personnel; Recommending Standards and Procedures for Certification; Continuation of Teaching Certificates; Restrictions

1. The commission shall create and implement standards and procedures for certifying educational personnel as qualified for a certificate to practice in the public schools of Georgia; provided, however, that such standards and procedures shall not require an individual to participate in or complete any training program in which divisive concepts, as such term is defined in Code Section 20-1-11, are advocated for; provided, further, that such standards shall include the following:
   1. Procedures for limiting the number and types of certificates to the fewest possible consistent with providing qualified teachers for Georgia’s schools;
   2. In-service training and related requirements needed to renew or maintain certification;
   3. Multiple or alternative routes to professional teacher certification, including, but not limited to, the alternative and nontraditional teacher certification programs provided for in Code Section 20-2-206; and
   4. Requirements, including appropriate examinations and assessments, for acquiring and maintaining certification pursuant to Code Section 20-2-200.
2. The commission shall recommend to the board of regents and private colleges and universities standards and procedures for preparing educational personnel to qualify for initial and renewable certification to practice in the public schools of Georgia, including the following:
   1. Pre-service preparation;
   2. Approval of teacher education programs, both graduate and undergraduate, which shall include, at a minimum, mandatory coursework in:
      1. Differentiated instruction, including the development and implementation of explicit curricula to effectively support and deliver differentiated instruction to students. As used in this subparagraph, the term “differentiated instruction” means instruction that demonstrates a teacher’s recognition of students as individuals in terms of their abilities, achievement, learning styles, and needs, including but not limited to at-risk students, English language learners, students with special needs, and gifted students, and that gives greater emphasis to individualization in teaching by making adjustments to curricula, materials, learning activities, and assessment techniques to ensure that all students in a mixed-ability classroom can have equal access to appropriate avenues for processing new information and developing skills; and
      2. Instruction related to the development of fundamental reading skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension;
   3. Approval of programs of alternative certification; and
   4. The creation of innovative programs designed to increase the number of minority teachers entering the profession, including, but not limited to, programs designed to promote increased student enrollment in and completion of teacher education programs offered at historically black colleges and universities in this state.
3. All certificates in force in this state which were issued by the state board prior to July 1, 1991, shall continue in full force and effect, subject to all the terms and conditions under which they were issued, until they expire by virtue of their own limitations or until their terms or conditions are modified by action of the commission. All such certificates issued by the state board prior to July 1, 1991, shall be deemed to have been issued by the commission for purposes of any law or regulation relating to such certificates.
4. The commission shall not have authority over the compensation, benefits, or working conditions of educational personnel in the public schools of Georgia; provided, however, that the commission shall have the authority to make recommendations to the State Board of Education regarding compensation as it relates to certification.
5. Reserved.
6. The commission shall have the authority to deny, revoke, or suspend certification or renewal of a school system educator as provided for in Code Section 20-2-984.5.
7. The commission shall have the authority to issue formal warnings, reprimands, monitoring, or any combination thereof to educators as provided for in Code Section 20-2-984.5.
8. The commission may provide consultative services pertaining to the teaching profession to anyone who has a vested interest in education and make recommendations to the state board or to local boards which will promote an improvement in the teaching profession. The commission shall be authorized to hold meetings for the purposes of determining recommendations pursuant to this subsection; and, at such meetings, the commission may receive testimony from educators or other persons interested in the improvement of the teaching profession; but the investigative powers of the commission may not be exercised pursuant to the authority of this subsection.

History. Ga. L. 1976, p. 966, § 5; Code 1981, § 20-2-984 , enacted by Ga. L. 1982, p. 836, § 2; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1546, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1332, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2365, § 5; Ga. L. 1998, p. 750, § 6; Ga. L. 2012, p. 358, § 37/HB 706; Ga. L. 2021, p. 261, § 4/SB 88; Ga. L. 2022, p. 136, § 1-5/HB 1084.

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, inserted “, including, but not limited to, the alternative and nontraditional teacher certification programs provided for in Code Section 20-2-206” in paragraph (a)(3); substituted the present provisions of paragraph (b)(2) for the former provisions, which read: “Approval of teacher education programs, both graduate and undergraduate;”; and added “, including, but not limited to, programs designed to promote increased student enrollment in and completion of teacher education programs offered at historically black colleges and universities in this state” at the end of paragraph (b)(4).

The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, in subsection (a), added the first proviso following “Georgia”, and substituted the second proviso for “including the following”.

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2022, p. 136, § 1-1/HB 1084, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Protect Students First Act.’”