Georgia opened its 2026–27 Let’s Talk Testing professional-learning series October 2 with a session focused on the English Language Arts standard-setting process and how statewide assessments are developed and interpreted.
Editorial Note
The October 2 session was a professional-learning event presented by the Georgia Department of Education’s Assessment Development team. It was not a new state law, a release of student scores, or an announcement that Georgia had automatically raised or lowered academic expectations.
“Standard setting” is a technical assessment process used to establish or review performance expectations associated with test results. The existence of a standard-setting session should not be interpreted by itself as evidence that a particular cut score, proficiency threshold, or accountability rule changed today.
Georgia opened its new “Let’s Talk Testing!” professional-learning series October 2 with a one-hour session focused on the English Language Arts standard-setting process, giving district leaders and instructional personnel a closer look at how statewide assessments move from academic standards to meaningful score interpretations.
The Georgia Department of Education says the virtual series is designed to build understanding of the Georgia Student Assessment Program. Each session addresses a specific assessment topic and reserves time for questions from educators, district staff, instructional coaches, RESA personnel, and school leaders.
The first topic matters because assessment results can shape intervention, accountability, instructional planning, family communication, and public understanding of school performance. Those uses make it important for educators to understand not only the score a student receives, but the process through which achievement levels are defined.
Bottom Line
Georgia’s Assessment Development team held the first session of the 2026–27 Let’s Talk Testing series from noon to 1 p.m. on October 2.
The opening topic was the ELA Standard Setting Process.
Future sessions are scheduled to address ELA score interpretation, educator involvement in test development, rangefinding and handscoring, score and report interpretation, and how educators can access and use assessment reports.
The sequence suggests that GaDOE is trying to make assessment work more transparent to the educators who eventually explain and use the results.
What Happened
GaDOE scheduled six virtual sessions running from October 2 through May 7.
The October 2 session concentrated on ELA standard setting. The November session will move into ELA score interpretation, while later meetings will examine educator participation in test development, handscoring, and reporting.
The department identifies the intended audience as assessment staff, district leaders, instructional coaches and coordinators, RESA personnel, and school leaders.
The sessions require registration and are not recorded, making the live professional-learning environment the main opportunity for participants to ask questions directly of assessment staff.
What This Means
State assessment systems often appear much simpler from the outside than they are internally.
Families may see a proficiency level or scale score. Teachers may see a class report. District administrators may see schoolwide or subgroup trends.
Before any of those results can be interpreted responsibly, the assessment system needs a defensible relationship between the academic standards students are expected to learn, the questions they are asked, and the performance categories used to describe achievement.
That is where standard setting becomes important.
Understanding Standard Setting
Standard setting is generally the process used to connect assessment performance with defined achievement expectations.
The process is not simply an arbitrary decision that one numerical score “looks proficient.” Assessment professionals typically use structured procedures, expert judgment, student-performance evidence, academic standards, and technical analysis to determine where meaningful distinctions among performance levels should be placed.
The exact process depends on the assessment program.
For educators, the practical issue is understanding what a performance level actually represents. A label such as “proficient” has limited instructional value unless teachers know what knowledge and skills the level is intended to reflect.
Why Educator Understanding Matters
Teachers frequently have to explain assessment results to students and families.
A parent may ask why a child earned a particular performance level despite receiving stronger classroom grades. A teacher may need to determine whether a low score reflects one weak domain, broad academic difficulty, test-taking problems, or a mismatch between classroom evidence and the assessment result.
School leaders also need enough assessment literacy to avoid overreacting to isolated numbers.
A single test result can provide useful information without capturing everything a student knows or can do. Strong instructional decisions combine state assessment data with classroom work, teacher observation, local assessments, attendance, course performance, and other evidence.
Who This Affects
District assessment staff are the most direct audience because they often coordinate testing, data interpretation, and communication across schools.
Principals and instructional leaders are also affected because statewide assessment results can influence school-improvement priorities and teacher professional learning.
Classroom teachers may not participate directly in every technical assessment process, but the resulting performance standards eventually shape the reports they receive.
Students and families are affected most indirectly but also most importantly. Greater assessment transparency can help schools explain results more accurately and avoid reducing a student’s academic identity to one score.
What Districts and Schools Need to Know
Assessment literacy should not be confined to testing coordinators.
School leaders should understand how state assessment categories are developed, what conclusions the results support, and what conclusions they do not support.
They also should prepare teachers to discuss results without overstating precision.
For example, a performance category can indicate that a student may need additional academic support. It should not automatically be treated as a complete diagnosis of the student’s ability, motivation, future potential, or classroom performance.
What This Does Not Mean
The October 2 session did not itself announce new statewide student scores.
It did not establish that Georgia lowered or raised expectations.
It did not replace classroom assessment or teacher judgment.
It also does not mean educators are expected to become psychometricians. The purpose of professional learning is to help school personnel understand enough of the assessment process to use results responsibly and communicate them accurately.
The Bigger Picture
Education systems increasingly face pressure to make assessment more understandable.
Families want timely results.
Teachers want reports they can use.
Policymakers want comparable statewide information.
School leaders need data that can support improvement without creating incentives to teach narrowly to a test.
Those goals can conflict if assessment systems become overly technical or if scores are interpreted without enough context.
Professional learning that explains how tests are developed, scored, and interpreted can help narrow that gap.
What Happens Next
The next Let’s Talk Testing session is scheduled for November 6 and will focus on ELA score interpretation.
Later sessions will address educator involvement in test development, handscoring, score reports, and practical use of assessment data.
That progression creates an opportunity for Georgia school leaders to move from understanding how performance standards are established toward understanding how actual results should be used.
Why This Matters
A state assessment can influence public perception of a school, instructional priorities, intervention decisions, and conversations with families.
That level of influence creates a responsibility to understand what the numbers mean.
Georgia’s October 2 session is therefore important not because it created a new testing requirement, but because it addresses the less visible technical decisions that give assessment results meaning.
When educators understand those decisions, they are better positioned to use testing as one source of evidence rather than as a substitute for professional judgment.
Key Takeaways
- Georgia opened its 2026–27 Let’s Talk Testing series on October 2.
- The first session focused on the ELA Standard Setting Process.
- GaDOE’s Assessment Development team is leading the series.
- The intended audience includes assessment staff, district leaders, instructional coaches, RESA personnel, and school leaders.
- Future sessions will cover score interpretation, test development, handscoring, and assessment reports.
- The October 2 event was professional learning, not a new testing law or release of statewide scores.
- Standard setting helps connect assessment performance with defined achievement expectations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the October 2 session about?
The session focused on the English Language Arts standard-setting process within Georgia’s student assessment system.
Did Georgia change proficiency scores today?
GaDOE’s event listing identifies the session as professional learning about the process. It does not state that a new statewide cut score or proficiency level was adopted during the session.
Who is the series intended for?
GaDOE lists assessment staff, district leaders, instructional coaches and coordinators, RESA staff, and school leaders.
Will the sessions be recorded?
GaDOE states that the sessions will not be recorded.
What comes next?
The November 6 session focuses on ELA score interpretation, with additional sessions continuing through May 2027.
Final Thoughts
Assessment becomes useful only when educators understand what a score can and cannot tell them.
Georgia’s new professional-learning series gives school leaders an opportunity to look behind the score report and understand more of the process that produces it.
That kind of assessment literacy can help schools make better instructional decisions, communicate more clearly with families, and avoid treating one statewide test as the complete measure of a student or school.
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Sources
https://login.community.gadoe.org/events/lets-talk-testing-2
