ATLANTA – A state agency created two decades ago to hold Georgia public schools accountable for student performance will have a new interim leader.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s policy director will take over as the interim executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement following the retirement of executive director Joy Hawkins, who served in the role for a half dozen years, Kemp’s office said Tuesday.
Ian Caraway is “uniquely qualified” for the role due to his “insight on the pressing needs facing Georgia students, along with his partnership approach to the various education agencies of our state,” Kemp said.
The agency, called GOSA, was founded under Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, and the three Republican governors who followed him in office have kept it operational.
Some see the agency as duplicative of the Georgia Department of Education, while others see it as a public-facing window into the performance of public schools.
GOSA produces an annual school report card and other analyses using data from the state education department. It also analyzes trends and shares its findings with the public.
Lawmakers often call on the agency for special tasks. For instance, they gave GOSA the responsibility for determining which schools were among the lowest performers under legislation that created a new private school voucher program. Families zoned for those schools are eligible for the funding, called a “Promise Scholarship.” GOSA drew criticism when it had to recalculate the list due to problems with the data.
Caitlan Coleman, a Kemp staffer, will fill Caraway’s policy role in the governor’s office on an interim basis.