June 9th, 2015                     
Table of Contents
Ethics Division
Certification and Ed Prep Divisions
Georgia Professional Standards Commission Meeting
May 2015

The following topics were discussed during the Georgia Professional Standards Commission's ("GaPSC") monthly meeting in May:

Ethics Division    

 

The GaPSC will allow a certificate-holder placed under an ethics investigation to provide a statement.  While the educator is not required to provide a statement, a report may be submitted to the Commission for consideration without his version of events.

 

The GaPSC recommended a 20 day suspension for an educator who didn't reveal a previous GaPSC-issued sanction to his or her school district.

 

The Commission recommended one year suspensions for two educators accused of having sex on campus while an after-school program was taking place.  The educators were not participating in the program and no students saw or were aware of their actions.

 

An administrator who shut down an after-prom party where alcohol was allegedly consumed by students was given a 10 day suspension.  The reason for the sanction was that the administrator allegedly failed to inform parents or otherwise report the matter until it had already come to the attention of the school district.

 

An educator accused of forging or providing fraudulent signatures on an IEP should expect approximately a two-year suspension.

 

A male teacher/coach who allegedly poked a male wrestler in the chest with his finger and slapped a female wrestler on her bottom after she won a match was issued a 20 day suspension.

Certification and Ed Prep Divisions   


An overview of edTPA was presented.  Among the points of emphasis were that edTPA is a nationally available, subject-specific performance assessment designed to be educative for candidates, ed prep programs and policymakers.  Candidates may also use edTPA to assess strengths and areas that need improvement.    

 

 

Eleven rules were adopted by the Commission, many of which will be in effect beginning in June.  Some of the changes affect the Induction Certificate (505-2-.04), certification application procedures (505-2-.27) and career and technical specializations (505-2-.90).  A listing of certification rules can be found here.

 

The GaPSC anticipates many questions regarding its new rules for professional learning requirements.  It will be sharing info about those changes on its website in the coming months.

 

The Educator Prep. Standing Committee recommended that a Progress Report for Point University be submitted by September 1, 2015, showing evidence of a systematic assessment system, including a comprehensive and integrated set of assessment and evaluation measures to monitor candidate performance, as well as manage and improve ed prep provider programs and operations.  The Committee also recommended the submission of a Progress Report in three months showing evidence that faculty have participated in scholarly work.

Leonard Williams - Staff Attorney



          


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