Scores on the the Georgia Milestones End-of-Grade test – the state’s most comprehensive assessment for student progress – continue to improve. Georgia students showed improvement in mathematics, science and social studies, with some groups scoring all-time highs on mathematics. Students achieving the Proficient Leaner level increased or were at the same level on 12 on the 13 assessments. 

U.S Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-GA, was joined by 30 of his House Republican colleagues – including members of the Georgia delegation – in sending a letter Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Robert Cekada urging the agency to limit the retention of firearm records to 20 years and immediately destroy digitally recorded firearm registration records.

Likely the state’s most prominent feature of the federal government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally found its new director. Former Deputy Surgeon General and Rear Admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Erica Schwartz was confirmed by a party line vote of 51-44, with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, being the lone Democrat senator to vote in favor. 

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-GA, may be leaving office after an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate, but the Republican Congressman wants to see an end to insider trading among lawmakers. As one of the original sponsors of the legislation, Carter is pushing the Stop Insider Trading Act.

While Georgia lawmakers and key educational stakeholders are working to battle literacy on the homefront, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-GA, is taking a key role at the federal level. The Georgia Congresswoman led the House introduction of the bipartisan and bicameral Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development (READ) Act, legislation which will address America’s literacy crisis using evidence-based reading instruction known as the Science of Reading.