Georgia Professional Standards Commission Meeting Report - September 2024

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) met virtually Sept. 11 and 12.

The meeting began with commissioners taking a moment to honor victims of the recent tragedy at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.

GaPSC Executive Secretary Matt Arthur provided a brief update on upcoming changes to Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE) tests. As he has done in recent GaPSC meetings, Arthur stressed the need  for educators to participate in GACE development.

GaPSC Seeks Your GACE Input

The GACE exam is developed by Georgia educators and those who prepare Georgia educators and is aligned with Georgia’s standards. Educator and faculty involvement is critical for developing professional certification assessments that are reflective of Georgia’s approved standards and ensuring fairness. 

The GaPSC seeks certified educators and those who prepare educators to apply or nominate others to serve on GACE development, fairness review, and standard-setting committees. To apply or nominate colleagues, click the button below. 

Apply or Nominate Colleagues

Rules Changes

The commission approved the following rule changes:

Certification

505-2-.08 PROVISIONAL CERTIFICATE

505-2-.151 SPEECH-LANGUAGE ASSOCIATE

Educator Preparation

505-3-.02 EDUCATOR PREPARATION PROVIDER ANNUAL REPORTING AND EVALUATION

505-3-.08 INNOVATIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMS

Ethics

505-6-.03 CHANGE OF ADDRESS

505-6-.09 INVESTIGATION INSTITUTED BY SELF-REFERRAL

All the newly approved rules are effective Oct. 15, 2024.

Educator Preparation and Certification

The commission reviewed a progress report for Fort Valley State University. Based on recommendations from the Educator Preparation and Certification Committee, the commission voted to require a new progress report due March 11, 2025. This progress report will focus on improvements to Standards 5.2 ," Data Quality" and 5.3, "Stakeholder Involvement". For more information on each standard, click here. 

Ethics

Steven Walters was introduced as the new assistant attorney general who will be handling ethics cases for the GaPSC.

There are two new ethics videos on the GaPSC's website. All ethics videos can be found here.

The commission approved all recommendations for the cases on the agenda.

Next Meeting The next committee meetings are Oct. 9. The next commission meeting is Oct. 10 .  The full calendar of 2024/2025 GaPSC meetings can be found HERE.