The state Department of Education seems to get a new leader every four years of late, and the newest one officially starts this week. Richard Woods ran for state school superintendent as an outsider on a platform that included opposition to one of DOE’s key initiatives, the Common Core State Standards. Despite his opposition, Woods may not have the power to stop the standards, as I discuss today. In a guest column, an educator says the best teachers are those who regard the job as a calling. And readers sound off about a new federal study that found low-income schools get a higher share of inexperienced teachers.

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com