Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes literacy coaches for K-3rd grade students in Georgia.

Highlights:

• Requires the Office of Student Achievement to provide staff support for the Georgia Council on Literacy and to hire an individual to serve as Georgia Director of Literacy (Sec. 2). 

• Authorizes council members to research and review methods, practices, and changes, and to require professional learning and development for literacy coaching and instructions for current teachers and literacy coaches (Sec. 3). 

• Specifies that all children who are enrolled for 20 school days or more prior to their sixth birthday will be subject to the provisions of this Act (Sec. 4). 

• Requires all school systems to offer a full-day kindergarten program to provide equal opportunities to be prepared for success in the first grade and to have the foundation for an educational career (Sec. 5). 

• Requires eligible students to be assessed for readiness by teachers and other personnel of the school (Sec. 5). 

• Requires a multi-step system for students who are significantly at risk of not attaining grade level reading proficiency (Sec. 5). 

• Requires a report by the Office of Student Achievement on November 1 of each year, summarizing the readiness of Georgia children for placement or promotion for the first grade program (Sec. 5). 

• Establishes literacy goals for all tested grade levels and provides strategies to support school readiness (Sec. 6). 

• Requires reassessment of a student at the end of the first grade to determine if the student is capable for the second grade (Sec. 10). 

• Prohibits any student from remaining in the first grade for more than two years (Sec. 10). 

• Requires the learning program established by this Act to be available to teachers and literacy coaches at no cost, beginning no later than the 2027-2028 school year (Sec. 16). 

• Specifies that this Act takes effect upon passage (Sec. 17). 

• Repeals all parts of laws that conflict with this Act (Sec. 18).

Full Bill Text