Fannin Schools Are Highly Qualified!

Last week at the Board of Education Meeting, Fannin County Schools received recognition from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission for meeting Highly Qualified status. During the meeting, Superintendent Mark Henson presented a congratulatory plaque to Cynthia Painter, who handles the Title II Federal Program and ensures all teachers in the system are Highly Qualified. Ms. Painter was thankful, but said the recognition was not for her, but for the Fannin County School District. So, what does it mean to be Highly Qualified?

“There’s a difference between a teacher having a certificate and being highly qualified,”

she explained,

“You can be a certified teacher in Georgia and if you’re not assigned the right classes then you’re not highly qualified.”

For instance, if a teacher has a Georgia teaching certificate to teach science for grade 6-12 and is teaching economics 6-12, then that teacher is not considered High Qualified. In order to gain Highly Qualified status, the teacher must pass the Georgia Assessments for Certification of Educators Exam (GACE) for the subject he or she is teaching.

“It’s a huge job,”

Painter said,

“especially at the high school level, with Special Education, that you have got teachers teaching the content area on their certificate.”

Notably, GACE exams are given periodically, so studying and scheduling exams for working teachers prove a challenge in ensuring High Qualified status. Painter also explained the remediation period for non-highly qualified teachers. This remediation is the time, a grace period, in which the teacher has to pass the GACE exam that corresponds to the subject he or she is teaching. During this time, Painter said, the District mails out letters to the parents of students in these classes explaining that the teacher is in the process of fulfilling this status.

“It is an honor,”

Superintendent Mark Henson said,

“to have all Highly Qualified personnel.”

Also, commenting on the recognition, Board Member Terry Bramlett added,

“I believe that the ultimate beneficiaries of this program are our students. We’re providing them with the best instruction that you possibly can and that’s always been the goal of this board.”