The Cobb County School District (District) recognizes that each student’s mastery of the Georgia Performance Standards will be evaluated by the State of Georgia through a grade level Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), at elementary and middle school, and Georgia High School Graduation Tests. The District further recognizes that these tests will be one of the primary indicators used to determine whether or not a school makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Finally, the District also recognizes that the promotion of third, fifth, and eighth graders to the next grade level is tied, by state law, directly to their individual performance on their grade-specific CRCT.

RULE:

A. LESSON PLANS:
The process of lesson planning is acknowledged by the District as an essential prerequisite for the provision of the program of instruction required to assist students to achieve the Georgia Performance Standards. Lesson plans, which are defined as the individual school’s plan for teaching the Georgia Performance Standards at each grade level and in each content area, are hereby established as a primary responsibility of school administration to be developed with the involvement of all instructional personnel.

B. CLASSROOM PROCEDURES:
Teachers are responsible for developing the short-term classroom procedures to be used to accomplish the school’s lesson plans. The procedures developed by individual teachers in accordance with this Rule shall not be considered lesson plans. In order to identify the most effective classroom procedures, teachers are encouraged to:
    1. Work collaboratively with their peers in the same grade and/or content areas;
    2. Participate in learning communities composed of teachers from multiple grade levels;
    3. Frequently assess, discuss, and re-evaluate the effectiveness of the classroom
        procedures used;
    4. Adopt new classroom procedures when and if:
        a. Those used are found not to be as effective as anticipated; and/or
        b. What is believed to be a more effective procedure is found or demonstrated.

C. ACCOUNTABILITY:
    1. School lesson plans:
        a. School Leadership Division shall establish a procedure for assuring that school
            lesson plans are being developed, implemented, and assessed.
        b. Curriculum and Instruction Division shall assist schools with the development,
            implementation, and assessment of their lesson plans.
    2. Local school administrators shall establish a procedure whereby:
       a. School lesson planning shall be ensured as a regular instructional operation; and
       b. Teacher development and implementation of classroom procedures shall be
           monitored for its support of the grade and content areas lesson plan, adequacy
           and effectiveness.

Adopted: 8/9/78
Reclassified an Administrative Rule: 9/1/04
Revised: 4/28/83; 8/8/84; 7/28/94; 6/14/06; 10/26/06