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Under the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 as the Every
Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, Highly Qualified (HiQ) is no longer required or reported to the
United States Department of Education (USDE). Instead, ESSA, under Title I, Part A, says that state education
agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) must ensure teachers meet applicable state certification
requirements. In Georgia, under the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), state certification requirements
are established by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC). However, Georgia law also allows LEAs
to waive certification requirements in Title 20 if the LEA has an approved Charter or Strategic Waiver Application.
LEAs that waive state certification must establish professional qualifications (PQ) for their teachers and report the
requirements in their annual ESSA application - the Consolidated LEA Improvement Plan (CLIP). In Georgia,
professional qualification requirements apply to all teachers in all local education agencies.
Educator professional qualifications data comes from GaPSC certification records, Student Class and GADOE CPI data
collection which verifies location of employment. The professional qualifications of teachers in the State, District and
School includes the following information, disaggregated by high poverty, low poverty, and total schools on the number
and percentage of:
- Inexperienced teachers and/or school leaders;
- Teachers with emergency or provisional credentials; and
- Out-of-field teachers
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