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Georgia Performance Standards
Expectations for Student Performance
In 2002, a new, more rigorous and relevant curriculum for Georgia’s students was introduced statewide called the Georgia Performance Standards. Developed by teachers and curriculum experts from across Georgia and the nation, the new standards provide teachers, students, and parents with a clearer set of expectations for what students must learn and retain.

The goal of these new standards, with their increased depth and rigor, is to not only increase the students’ knowledge of content, but to provide classroom environments where students practice what they learn. Students apply their knowledge in problem solving exercises and real life situations and communicate their learning to a variety of audiences. This approach allows students to gain ownership of the information they absorb.

Teachers and leaders in the District are undergoing extensive training in the nature of these new standards and how to incorporate them into the classroom. Because this initiative is critical and involves many courses and grade levels, the implementation has followed, and will continue to follow, a phase-in schedule. As of the 2005-06 school year, CCSD has implemented the following subjects and grade levels of the Georgia Performance Standards:
English/Language Arts Grades K-12
Math Grades K-2 and 6
Science Grades 6-7 and 9-12

Other grade levels and subject areas are currently previewing the new standards and making preparations for implementation in upcoming years. Also, state-mandated tests are being revised concurrently with the phase-in plan; therefore, students will be tested with new state assessments on the new curriculum as they are exposed to it.

Program Evaluation
Continous Assessment and Improvement
Each content and instructional support program area within Curriculum and Instruction is on a cyclical schedule for evaluation. This model provides continuous assessment and improvement of the Cobb County instructional program.

Program Evaluations consist of the following:
• Classroom observations (3 per school at randomly selected schools)
• Survey of teachers, administrators, parents and students
• Analysis of test data (both in the District, and in comparable districts in Georgia and the U.S.)
• Review national trends and issues to determine research-based effective practice

Once all data is collected, Curriculum and Instruction staff analyze the observations, survey results and test data and make recommendations for improvement to the Superintendent and Board of Education.

Georgia School Standards and GAPSS Analysis
Expectations for Schools
The Georgia School Standards (GSS) are a set of standards that describe what Georgia’s schools need to know, understand and be able to do, in the same manner that the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) describe what Georgia’s students need to know, understand and be able to do. Correlated to several well-known and respected research frameworks, the standards are measured through a process known as the Georgia Assessment of Performance on School Standards (GAPSS Analysis).

Through the GAPSS Analysis, data is collected from multiple sources to assess the status of a school on each of eight standards: Curriculum; Instruction; Assessment; Planning and Organization; Student, Family, and Community Support; Professional Learning; Leadership; and School Culture. Results of the GAPSS Analysis provide the basis for development and implementation of school improvement initiatives.

Curriculum and Instruction has been thoroughly involved in the GAPSS Analysis for Cobb’s schools, both leading and participating in the review of the four Cobb schools in Corrective Action status.