In a study of 15 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states, researchers at SREB identified the degree to which the Georgia Department of Education provided leadership and support for the statewide use of high-quality instructional materials that aligned to the state’s K-12 college- and career-readiness standards in English language arts (ELA) and math. 

SREB developed a list of actions that demonstrate state leadership and support in each of the three areas listed below. These actions, or “look-fors,” guided data collection and the analysis of state efforts. Read about the look-fors in the full report, located to the right. State efforts in each area fell into one of three levels of implementation: minimal, essential or strong. In some cases, SREB researchers also designated a state action as notable. Below is a detailed description of this state’s efforts.

Table of Contents

Highlights	Area 1	Area 2	Area 3	Moving Forward

Highlights from Georgia

• Notable use of consistent, nationally recognized criteria to review, develop and select textbooks and online, on-demand instructional materials.
• Notable efforts to keep the state department of education’s online, on-demand instructional materials current to support implementation of new standards. In 2015 and 2016, the department worked with Georgia educators to develop, review and select items aligned to the Georgia Standards for Excellence, which educators began implementing in 2015-16.
• Notable support for local instructional materials alignment efforts through educator training on Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) tools and strategies.
• Strong use of data to guide continuous improvement. The department gathered multiple types of data on a regular basis. These data included trends in educator use of and perceptions of the quality of the state’s guidance, instructional materials, professional learning and technical assistance; and emerging educator needs for resources and support. The department gathered these data through user tallies and feedback on the state’s online Teacher Resource Link, GeorgiaStandards.org and Wiki spaces; feedback from staff at Reginal Education Service Agencies (RESA) and educator advisory councils; and annual statewide assessments. To use the data gathered to inform state efforts, the state superintendent and members of the executive cabinet met bi-weekly with directors from across the department, and department leaders met frequently with RESA leaders and educator advisory councils.

Area 1: Establishing Clear Conventions

Did the department establish clear criteria and a clear process for identifying high-quality instructional materials aligned to the state’s college- and career-readiness standards?

Georgia provided essential leadership and support in this area.

The department established consistent criteria based on nationally recognized tools to assess the quality of instructional materials and their alignment to the state’s college- and career-readiness standards—the Georgia Standards of Excellence. The department used these criteria to review and adopt textbooks. It also used the criteria to develop, review and select many of the online, on-demand instructional materials that the department offered. The department established processes that included educators to regularly develop, review and select instructional materials, and it reviewed and selected online items on an annual basis.

Table 1: State Criteria and Processes for Vetting Textbooks and Online, On-Demand Instructional Materials

State authority and role in developing and selecting instructional materials	Criteria the state used to develop and select materials	Process the state used to develop and select materials
Textbooks
In accordance with state law: The state board of education was required adopt recommended textbooks. Districts were not required to select items from the board-adopted list.	The department provided Learning Resources Evaluation Rubrics to the State Textbook Advisory Committee. The department developed these rubrics (documents that outline expectations, guidelines and procedures) based on Achieve’s Open Educational Resource (OER) rubrics. The OER rubrics are nationally recognized as clear, detailed and accurate tools to assess the quality and alignment of textbooks to college- and career-readiness standards.	The State Textbook Advisory Committee was responsible for reviewing and recommending items for adoption by the board. The committee was made up of educators and members of the public appointed by the board. Items were adopted every six years. Math items were most recently adopted in 2012, followed by ELA items in 2013.
Online, On-Demand Instructional Materials
The department provided the Teacher Resource Link (TRL) and GeorgiaStandards.org repositories, which included collections of model lesson and unit plans. Educators could use these items to inform their planning.	Achieve’s OER rubrics. These rubrics are nationally recognized as clear, detailed and accurate tools to assess the quality and alignment of instructional materials to college- and career-readiness standards.	The department worked with Georgia educators to develop, review and select items on an annual basis between 2010 and 2015, reviewing items in 2015 to verify alignment to the new Georgia Standards for Excellence, which educators began implemented in 2015-16.
The department provided ELA, math and literacy Wiki spaces, which included collections of model unit frameworks and plans. Educators could use these items to inform their planning.	Achieve’s Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) rubrics. The EQuIP rubrics are nationally recognized as clear, detailed and accurate tools to assess the quality and alignment of instructional materials to college- and career-readiness standards. Additionally, Universal Design for Learning principles to ensure unit plans addressed the needs of all learners.	The department worked with Georgia educators to develop, review and select model unit frameworks and plans in 2012-13 and 2013-14. The department revised the items in 2016.
The Georgia Online Formative Assessment Resource (GOFAR) repository, which included a collection of benchmark and formative assessments. Districts and educators could use these items to develop local assessments.	No criteria reported for assessing quality and alignment to the Georgia Standards of Excellence.	Process for developing and reviewing items not reported.

Area 2: Supporting Local Efforts

Did the department provide guidance, instructional materials, professional learning and technical assistance to build local knowledge and skills, and support educator use of aligned materials?

Georgia provided essential leadership and support in this area.

The department provided several types of guidance and instructional materials for on-demand access by educators. The department offered professional learning and technical assistance, including training on how to apply the nationally recognized criteria the department used to review instructional materials (described above). Some of these efforts reached large numbers of educators across the state. Examples of the department’s efforts include the following.

Guidance

Guidance could include information about the standards and aligned teaching strategies, rubrics for gauging alignment of instructional materials, templates for designing aligned instruction, lists of adopted textbooks and online professional learning resources. Georgia provided the following guidance documents.

• List of board-adopted textbooks, and information for district leaders on leading the textbook review and selection process
• ELA, math and GeorgiaStandards.org collections of guidance materials, including curriculum frameworks, grade level content progression documents, text complexity rubrics, lesson planning templates and archived training materials
• iTunes U library of professional learning videos and podcasts on best practices for implementing the standards
• ELA, math and literacy Wiki space collections of archived training materials and professional learning videos
• Extensive guidance for differentiating instruction for diverse learners, including manuals for special, gifted and English learner education

Instructional Materials

Instructional materials could include a variety of tools and resources that educators use to plan and deliver instruction, such as model lesson and unit plans, sample formative assessments, textbooks, student workbooks and manipulatives, recommended texts and videos, and multimedia learning tools. Georgia provided the following types of instructional materials.

• TRL and GeorgiaStandards.org collections of model lesson and unit plans, student modules and classroom activities. The TRL was linked to the state’s student data system, allowing teachers to access items based on their students’ performance on annual statewide assessments.
• ELA, math and literacy Wiki spaces offering collections of model unit plans and instructional strategies. Educators could also create and share their own resources and materials on the Wikis.
• GOFAR platform offering districts and teachers more than 1,600 aligned formative and benchmark assessment items, with data analysis and reporting capabilities  

Professional Learning and Technical Assistance   

• Training on LDC and MDC for consultants from the state’s RESAs, teachers and leaders from schools and districts. The training began in 2011. By 2015-16, the trained consultants, teachers and leaders had trained and supported teachers in more than 150 of the state’s 180 districts. In 2015-16, the department partnered with SREB to further its LDC and MDC work.
• Multi-day summer professional learning institutes, provided in partnership with the RESAs. In 2014, the institute focused on ELA and math instructional strategies and planning, with 4,000 teachers attending. In 2015 the institute focused on middle grades and high school math for struggling students, with 1,300 teachers attending.
• One-day trainings throughout 2014-15 for teachers and school and district leaders on developing standards-aligned math tasks and classroom assessments, provided in partnership with the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast
• Instructional leadership academies on aligning curriculum and assessments, offered regionally in 2015-16 for leaders of schools and districts in need of improvement

“Probably our greatest tool for outreach would be our RESA staff. Our state has continued to provide funding in both ELA and math for this because Georgia is a huge state, the need is tremendous and it is very difficult for the few of us at the department to reach all teachers adequately. RESA staff provide person-to-person interaction with teachers in an ongoing way.”—Staff member, Georgia Department of Education

Area 3: Using Data to Continuously Improve State Efforts

Did the department regularly gather and use multiple types of data in order to continuously improve its leadership and support for the statewide alignment of instructional materials to college- and career-readiness standards?

Georgia provided strong leadership and support in this area.

The department regularly gathered three of the five types of data that SREB deemed key for helping states continuously improve. Leaders and staff from across the agency, as well as key partners and educators, participated in analysis and discussion of the data. The department used the data in two ways to inform its work.

Table 2: Data the Department Gathered to Inform its Efforts

Key types of data	Data sources
Educator use of state guidance and instructional materials, and educator participation in the professional learning and technical assistance the department offered	Number of TRL and GeorgiaStandards.org users
Educator perceptions of the quality of the state’s offerings	User ratings of and feedback on resources and materials in the TRL and Wiki spaces Professional learning participant surveys Regular RESA and educator advisory council meetings
Educator emerging needs	Feedback from Wiki space users Regular RESA and educator advisory council meetings Professional learning participant surveys Student performance on the annual statewide assessment
Impact of state offerings on measurable teacher or student outcomes	None reported
Local curriculum alignment practices	None reported

The department used this data to improve two of its supports for local instructional materials alignment:

• Guidance and instructional materials
• Professional learning and technical assistance services

The department established the following routines to analyze data, discuss findings and determine actions to address identified needs:

• The state superintendent and executive cabinet met bi-weekly with directors of different areas across the department, such as ELA and math, special education, school improvement, assessment and accountability.
• Department leaders met quarterly with RESA leaders and regularly with state ELA and math advisory councils that included teachers, and school and district leaders.

Moving Forward

As Georgia strives to continuously improve, state leaders may wish to consider the following recommendations.    

• Continue to expand and update the department’s repositories of online, on-demand guidance and instructional materials to help educators implement the Georgia Standards for Excellence. See strong state efforts to provide extensive tools selected through rigorous review processes described in the Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina profiles.
• Continue and expand the department’s support for local instructional materials alignment efforts. See professional learning and technical assistance initiatives that were intensive, integrated and sustained, and that reached large numbers of districts, schools or educators described in the Alabama, Kentucky and Louisiana profiles. 
• Continue and enhance the department’s strong use of data to guide improvement. For example, gather information about local practices for selecting and developing aligned instructional materials, in order to design services and tools that address statewide needs and that target schools and districts in most need of support. Examine how the use of state materials and services impacts educator practice and student learning. See other strong state efforts to use data, including impact data, described in the Arkansas, Delaware, Tennessee and West Virginia profiles.