Georgia § 20-2-159 - 3. Academic core standards to be embedded in career, technical, and agricultural education courses.

§ 20-2-159. 3. Academic core standards to be embedded in career, technical, and agricultural education courses.

The content standards established for career, technical, and agricultural education courses pursuant to Code Section 20-2-140 shall include embedded standards in academic core subject areas, as appropriate. In establishing such content standards, the state board shall work to ensure that the coursework meets postsecondary requirements for acceptance of credit for such coursework at the postsecondary level. Such courses shall be taught by a highly qualified teacher in the academic content and trained or experienced in contextualized learning using project based methods; by a highly qualified career, technical, and agricultural education teacher who has completed a state-approved training program to strengthen academic content and has passed a state-approved exam for demonstrating mastery of academic content; or by a team made up of a highly qualified teacher in the academic content and a highly qualified career, technical, and agricultural education teacher working together to teach the course. Local school systems and individual charter schools may develop and implement career, technical, and agricultural courses with embedded standards in academic core subjects areas, including, but not limited to, English, language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics. For an academic core subject area for which an end-of-course assessment has been adopted pursuant to Code Section 20-2-281, students shall be given the opportunity to take such end-of-course assessment upon completion of the career, technical, and agricultural education course that includes embedded standards in such academic core subject area, unless such student has already passed such end-of-course assessment. Students who successfully complete a course in career, technical, and agricultural education that includes embedded standards in academic core subject areas, as adopted or approved by the state board, shall receive course credit for both the career, technical, and agricultural education course as well as for the academic core coursework embedded in such course. The guidelines shall limit the number of academic credits earned through career, technical, and agricultural education courses for any student to three credits and shall ensure acceptance of such credits for purposes of admission into a postsecondary institution. Further, such a credit shall count only once toward high school diploma requirements unless the course requires expanded time to cover the academic and career, technical, and agricultural education content found in both the academic and the career, technical, and agricultural education course. (Code 1981, § 20-2-159.3 , enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 635, § 5/HB 186; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1376, § 11/HB 502.) The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "content standards" for "competencies and curricula" twice in subsection (a). Editor's notes. - Ga. L. 2011, p. 635, § 1/HB 186, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "The General Assembly finds that: "(1) Our state's long-term prosperity depends on supporting an education system that is designed to prepare our students for a global economy; "(2) High school students and parents must understand that they have options for career pathway programs of study that join a college-ready academic core with quality career, technical, and agricultural education studies that result in a high school diploma and preparation for success in advanced training, an associate's degree, a baccalaureate degree, and a career; "(3) Local school systems must provide every student with choices that are academically rigorous and aligned to opportunities in high-demand, high-skill, high-wage career fields and to postsecondary career and technical pathways leading to advanced credentials or degrees; "(4) The State Board of Education, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and the Board of Technical and Adult Education must work together so that academic courses that are embedded within career, technical, and agricultural education courses (CTAE) are given appropriate academic credit at the high school level and recognized at the postsecondary level; "(5) Teachers should be provided with professional development opportunities that enforce the academically rigorous standards in relevant, project based coursework; "(6) High school students should clearly understand the options for dual high school and postsecondary credit, and the state should properly fund these options; "(7) Every state education agency, postsecondary institution, and local school system should provide all high school students with opportunities for accelerated learning through dual credit coursework leading to at least six postsecondary credits and have as a collective goal to graduate every student with postsecondary credit; "(8) Georgia's strategic industries must be partners in our public education system (secondary and postsecondary) so that they are assured that our high school graduates are prepared for success in the workforce; "(9) Georgia's public education system must incorporate many different types of assessments and certificates into their programs so that a student's skill level is assessed and that it also has meaning to them for postsecondary and career success; and "(10) Georgia's students must understand that a high school diploma and some form of postsecondary credential are key to success in the workforce and earning a family living wage." Law reviews. - For article on the 2011 enactment of this Code section, see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 115 (2011).