---
type: "Bill"
title: "Student Assessments;consideration of local reading programs; research based formative assessments; summative component; provide"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 20-2-281 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to student assessments, so as to provide for consideration of local reading programs when establishing a research based formative assessment with a summative component for grades one and two; to provide for a review and recommended solution for ongoing assessments in kindergarten through grade five in reading and mathematics and for the assessments in grades three through eight; to provide for a comparability study to determine and establish the concordance of nationally recognized academic assessments with content standards and assessments in grades nine through 12; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2017_18"
identifier: "SB 211"
citation: "Georgia SB 211 (2017_18)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ellis Black", "Freddie Sims", "Jesse Stone", "John Wilkinson", "Lindsey Tippins", "Matt Brass", "William Ligon, Jr."]
version_count: 0
action_count: 18
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2017-04-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a61f0a83-5fc6-4533-918f-6227a7389d92"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "344fe787470f72b45f1f5823e4a9999d816365f6843f4cfca2b94fc0e5a5479e"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia SB 211 (2017_18) — Student Assessments;consideration of local reading programs; research based formative assessments; summative component; provide

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 20-2-281 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to student assessments, so as to provide for consideration of local reading programs when establishing a research based formative assessment with a summative component for grades one and two; to provide for a review and recommended solution for ongoing assessments in kindergarten through grade five in reading and mathematics and for the assessments in grades three through eight; to provide for a comparability study to determine and establish the concordance of nationally recognized academic assessments with content standards and assessments in grades nine through 12; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.


## Votes

- PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE — **51–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ellis Black — primary (person)
- Freddie Sims — primary (person)
- Jesse Stone — primary (person)
- John Wilkinson — primary (person)
- Lindsey Tippins — primary (person)
- Matt Brass — primary (person)
- William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-17** Senate Hopper
- **2017-02-21** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-28** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-01** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2017-03-03** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2017-03-03** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2017-03-06** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-03-06** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2017-03-09** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2017-03-22** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-24** House Postponed
- **2017-03-28** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2017-03-28** House Passed/Adopted As Amended `passage`
- **2017-03-30** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub
- **2017-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-04-27** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-27** Act 36 `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-27** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a61f0a83-5fc6-4533-918f-6227a7389d92`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).