Section 20-2-159.2. Coordination between high schools and postsecondary institutions to minimize the need for remedial course work for students in postsecondary institutions

   Stronger coordination between high schools and institutions of higher education is necessary to prepare students for more challenging postsecondary endeavors and to lessen the need for academic remediation in college, thereby reducing the costs of higher education for students, families, and the state. To this end, the State Board of Education, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia shall:

   (1) Develop policies to ensure that students who complete the core curriculum established pursuant to Code Section 20-2-140 will meet the requirements for purposes of admission into a postsecondary institution, such as grade point average and readiness levels in reading, writing, and mathematics, without having to take remedial coursework. Such policies shall:

      (A) Establish the benchmarks for college readiness and the method in which students can demonstrate readiness in reading, writing, and mathematics for postsecondary coursework upon completing the core curriculum; and

      (B) Set the conditions for ensuring college readiness;

   (2) Define college-readiness standards in reading, writing, and mathematics needed for success in advanced training, certificate programs, and programs leading to an associate's or bachelor's degree;

   (3) Identify one or more state-wide common assessments to determine postsecondary readiness in reading, writing, and mathematics and inform students of their performance on such assessments no later than the end of tenth grade;

   (4) Develop transitional courses in reading, writing, and mathematics, with common standards, syllabus, and instruction materials for eleventh and twelfth grade students who fail to meet readiness standards, which courses shall be required by the state board to be offered by all local boards of education and which all students who are identified pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection as failing to meet readiness standards shall be required to take;

   (5) Establish a state-wide process for determining how successful completion of transitional courses will guarantee that students will meet readiness standards; and

   (6) Ensure dual credit courses reflect postsecondary coursework.

Code 1981, § 20-2-159.2, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 635, § 5/HB 186; Ga. L. 2012, p. 689, § 4/HB 713.