Wednesday, July 23, 2025

GA Public School Courses 7-23-25

Changes are underway for Georgia Public Schools planned course offerings and curriculum in 2025-2026. Here's a summary of key updates:  

English Language Arts (ELA)

·       New K-12 ELA Standards: Georgia is implementing new K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) standards starting in the 2025-2026 school year. These standards emphasize early literacy through phonics and the science of reading, multimodality, and clear learning progressions across grades.

·       Curriculum Alignment: Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) will align their curriculum to these new standards in 2025-26.

·       Assessments: Georgia Milestones assessments will reflect the new ELA standards beginning in the 2025-26 school year. 

Career, Technical, & Agricultural Education (CTAE)

·       Construction Courses: The Georgia Department of Education is expanding its CTAE+ initiative to include Construction Pathways. Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, students completing the Carpentry Pathway can fulfill the Geometry math graduation requirement. 

Georgia Virtual School

·       New Course Offerings (Fall 2025): Georgia Virtual School is launching three new courses: AP Latin, AP Seminar - ELA, and Sports in the United States Society. Registration begins March 15, 2025. 

Additional notes

·       Early Learning: Georgia's Pre-K Program aims to provide a minimum of 180 full days of educational services to eligible four-year-old children in 2025-2026.

·       Elementary Education: A policy change impacts students in grades three through five, requiring educators to incorporate previously eliminated instruction back into teaching routines. 

This information provides an overview of some of the planned course offerings and curriculum changes in Georgia Public Schools for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. For detailed information, it's recommended to consult the Georgia Department of Education and individual school district websites.

Planned courses for Georgia Public Schools in 2025

Georgia Public Schools offer a wide range of courses and have made some key adjustments and additions for the 2025 school year and beyond. Here's an overview:

High School

·       Advanced Placement (AP) courses: Georgia schools offer a comprehensive selection of AP courses across various subjects like English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Languages. These courses are designed to provide college-level instruction, typically for students in grades 10-12, and may lead to college credit with a sufficiently high AP exam score.

·       New AP offerings for Fall 2025 include: AP Latin, AP Seminar - ELA, and Sports in the United States Society.

·       Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE): The state is expanding its CTAE+ initiative to offer construction pathways, allowing students to earn credits towards math, science, and ELA graduation requirements through related courses.

·       Dual Enrollment: Many schools partner with technical colleges like SRTC to offer dual enrollment programs, allowing students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously.

·       Credit Recovery and Summer Programs: Options like FLEX Academy provide credit recovery and initial credit courses for high school students during the summer.

·       Revised Graduation Requirements: While the current system has four tiers (College Preparatory (CP), College Preparatory with Distinction (CP+), Technology/Career (TC), and Technology/Career with Distinction (TC+)) with differing requirements, a proposed rule aims to create one common set of requirements for all students, potentially impacting required units and elective choices.

·       Graduation requirement specifics (as of now):

o   4 units of English.

o   4 units of Math.

o   4 units of Science (the 4th unit can also count as an elective).

o   3 units of Social Studies.

o   3 units from CTAE, Modern Language/Latin, and/or Fine Arts.

o   1 unit of Health and Physical Education (3 units of JROTC can also fulfill this).

o   4 units of Electives.

o   Minimum Total: 23 units. 

Middle School

·       Required Courses: Include Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, PE/Health, and Computer Science.

·       Optional Courses: Examples include Spanish, Writing Fun, and Art.

·       Changes to Middle School ELA Standards: The state is implementing new K-12 ELA standards for the 2025-2026 school year, with a stronger emphasis on structured literacy, including phonics and roots-based word analysis. New Georgia Milestones assessments aligned with these standards will also be introduced.

·       Waiver for 8th Grade Science Assessment: A waiver request has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education to allow 8th-grade students completing a high school physical science course to take the high school physical science assessment instead of the 8th-grade science end-of-grade exam for the 2026-2029 school years.

·       Middle school curriculum resources for Math, Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts are being phased out in July 2026.

Elementary School

·       New ELA Standards: Similar to middle school, the Georgia Department of Education is implementing new ELA standards for the 2025-2026 school year, focusing on a more structured and evidence-based approach to literacy.

·       Early Learning Programs: Districts like Gwinnett County offer programs like Play2Learn and Little Learner's Academy to support early learning and school readiness, focusing on literacy, vocabulary development, and building background knowledge.

·       Curriculum Adoption: Atlanta Public Schools, for instance, are piloting new K-5 ELA curricular resources (Benchmark Advance or HMH) during the 2025-2026 school year before making a final decision. 

It is important to remember that specific course offerings can vary by school and district. For the most up-to-date and specific information, it's always recommended to consult your child's school counselor or the school's academic planning guide. You can also find valuable resources on the Georgia Department of Education website

https://www.google.com/search?q=planned+courses+for+Georgia+Public+Schools+in+2025

Comments

High School should include Nutrition and Organ Functions in Biology. It should also require a course in Physics, Chemistry, US History with Economics, Civics, US Constitution and common US and Local Laws.

Adult Skills like budgeting, bill paying, interest charges, paying taxes, driving, auto and home maintenance should be taught. Part-Time and Summer work should be encouraged.

Personal Responsibility to become self-supporting should be stressed. Identifying student abilities and the importance of choosing an occupation you are good at and enjoy doing should be stressed. Pay ranges by occupation should be taught.

Foreign Language skills should be eliminated as a required course and offered as an elective. Propaganda Indoctrination and Activism should not be encouraged.

Middle School should require Reading, Writing and Math to be at Grade Level before advancing to High School. The Iowa Test should be administered in 8th grade along with Personality Tests to help students identify their Motivated Abilities and Skills.

Elementary School should keep students at Grade Level in Reading, Writing and Math. Spelling should be tested and graded. Cursive writing and penmanship should be taught.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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