Community meeting The Georgia Department of Education is holding a public hearing on the Every Student Succeeds Act in Calhoun, Ga. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17 at the Gordon County College & Career Academy.

Georgia superintendents are welcoming the nation's new federal education law, saying it will benefit students and teachers and offers opportunity to view education through a more holistic lens.

"I'm in favor of local control of education," said Dade County Schools Superintendent Jan Harris.

States have the responsibility to hold schools and districts accountable, Harris said, but in the past several years the country has "worshiped the accountability god a little too much." She hopes Georgia will take advantage of the new federal education law and grant schools more flexibility when it comes to testing, and that an emphasis will be placed on developing well-rounded students.

The nation's new education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, loosens the federal government's grip on education by rewriting the highly criticized No Child Left Behind education law of 2002. Every Student Succeeds grants states increased autonomy, allowing each to develop a plan addressing standards and assessments, school and district accountability, and how the state will help struggling schools and students.

The plans are being developed and will be turned in to the U.S. Department of Education for approval early next year. They will be implemented in the fall of 2017.

The Georgia Department of Education is now working to gather public feedback on its plan, hosting a series of community meetings across the state.

Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese said she appreciates how the state's top education officials are listening and asking for feedback. And she plans to provide suggestions during the local public feedback session in October.

Looking ahead at the opportunity to develop a new accountability system, Reese said she hopes the state develops a system that is not just punitive. No Child Left Behind created an accountability system where districts either "passed or failed," Reese said, and there was no reward for a district making improvement.

"We have an opportunity [now] to design an accountability system that recognizes growth," she said.

Now is also the time to simplify and scale back the College and Career Ready Performance Index, which is the state's annual assessment tool that uses numerous indicators to evaluate schools and districts, according to Reese.

"[CCRPI] is very complicated and very hard to understand, and the results are not timely," she added.

Students are tested in the spring, but results do not come to the district until December, Reese said. This means the data provided is of little use, and the district has to use its own resources to benchmark student progress and make needed changes, she continued.

Student absences are also counted against districts under the current evaluation system, and Reese hopes the state will provide districts with more leniency.

Under the current system, if a student misses six or more school days it is counted against the district. Reese hopes the state will boost this number up to 10 days, which she said is more reasonable.

"One sickness can easily cause a student to miss six days," she said.

Fifty-three percent of students in Catoosa County qualify for free- or reduced-priced lunches and are considered to be economically disadvantaged, and 11 of the district's 17 schools receive Title I funding, Reese said.

She is hoping the state will grant districts more discretion over how to spend federal funds, as she wants to be able to use them to hire behavior specialists and interventionists.

"We think this would make a difference in student achievement," Reese said. "So many of our students come and have depression, they have trauma, they have issues outside of the classroom that we need to address during the day."

The Tennessee Department of Education previously held a statewide feedback tour in May, collecting community input on its plan. An online feedback form was also created in both English and Spanish, and the state has received hundreds of comments, according to spokeswoman Sara Gast.

"We are wrapping up this first round of feedback this month and are moving toward drafting the state plan, which will factor in this input and the work of the working groups, and are aiming to have a draft of our state plan out for further public feedback either late this year or early next," Gast said.

Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at 423-757-6592 or krainwater@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @kendi_and.