Georgia Department of Education

Richard Woods, Georgia's School Superintendent

"Educating Georgia's Future"

SSTAGE maintains close contact with multiple officials in the Georgia Department of Education.  Besides our obvious connection to the topics of Student Support Teams (SST) and Response to Intervention (RTI), we also have vital interest in other areas:  curriculum, assessment, rulemaking, research, school psychology services, disabilities, the state Board of Education, initiatives from the Governor’s office and the General Assembly, and federal requirements, among others.  GaDOE is a nerve center for programs, requirements, and resources surrounding all of those aspects of education in our state, not to mention funding!

GaDOE has partnered with SSTAGE for seven years now on the SSTAGE Best/Promising Practices conference.  We value this collaboration which benefits both entities and thus, the students of Georgia.

GaDOE also has a critical working relationship with the Professional Standards Commission (PSC), which is responsible for credentialing of educators.

The GaDOE website is a tremendous source of useful information.

Georgia educators are aligning to create a preventive framework to improve performance outcomes of all learners. Georgia Tiered System of Supports for Students is continued implementation of Georgia Systems of Continuous Improvement, the statewide plan to provide a tiered system of supports for the districts, schools, and students. The tiered system includes evidence-based interventions and screenings that will provide different levels of support needed to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems.

Georgia’s School Turnaround Focus, created by House Bill 338 in 2017 and led by the state’s first Chief Turnaround Officer Dr. Eric Thomas, was created to provide a system of supports for Georgia schools identified as being most in need of assistance.

You will find one page solely dedicated to Response to Intervention with extensive resources. These include a vital GaDOE RTI Guidance Document. This was created by a statewide task force that included at least a dozen SSTAGE members. (Also see our Web Resources page for elaboration)

In another section, you will find information on Student Support Teams, the state SST Rule and a GaDOE SST Manual.