Appraisal Courses - Common Requirements

The Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board has developed common requirements to which schools must adhere in offering all approved appraisal courses.

• In establishing an approved course, a school must maintain for at least five years, as a minimum, the following:
  1. a detailed course outline with hours to be spent on each subject area to be covered in the course and classroom and homework assignments;
  2. detailed learning objectives for each instructional hour of the course;
  3. text materials utilized in the course;
  4. daily tests, final examinations, or other materials used to evaluate student performance;
  5. records that identify each student, the student's attendance record, and final grade for any course;
  6. a list of instructors for the course; and
  7. summaries of student evaluations of the courses.

• Hours of Instruction - an instruction hour is at least fifty (50) minutes of each sixty minute segment. The Boards will grant credit towards a classroom hour requirement for preclassification education only if the course offering is at least fifteen hours in length and the applicant successfully completes an examination pertinent to the course. The Board will grant credit toward a classroom hour for continuing education only if the course offering is a least two hours in length. Unless is has prior approval of the Board, no school may schedule a student for more than seven and one-half (7.5) hours per classroom instruction and testing. No more than thirty (30) minutes for every seven and one-half (7.5) hours of instruction of audio or video material toward meeting any required classroom (or make-up) hours unless the Board grants written authorization for such materials prior to use. The school shall hold all classroom instruction between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. with breaks totaling at least fifteen minutes every two hours. The schedule shall allow reasonable time for preparation for each classroom session.

• Class Size - the school director/coordinator shall notify the Board when any individual class has fewer than six (6) or more than forty (40) students, The director/coordinator shall give this notice to the Board within twenty-four hours after the first session of the class.

• Instructors - only instructors approved by the Board under the standards of Chapter 539-5 of the Board's Rules may instruct courses offered to meet the preclassification education requirements. Only instructors with appropriate experience and knowledge of the content areas of continuing education course may teach continuing education courses. Schools must maintain resumes and other biographical information documenting such knowledge and experience for all continuing education instructors who have not qualified as approved instructors under the standards of Chapter 539-5.

• Examinations - every approved course offered to meet preclassification education shall conclude with an examination prepared and administered by the approved school.
  • Passing Score - schools must require that students achieve a passing score (a score consistent with the passing score required on state classification examinations) on final examinations administered for approved courses.
  • Retaking a Course Examination - schools may elect to allow any student who fails to achieve a passing score to take another examination on another day without repeating instruction. If a student fails to achieve a passing score on the second final examination, the student must repeat all instruction of that course before taking another examination.
  • Security - schools must maintain at least four forms of a final examination for each approved course and shall provide the Board with reasonable assurances that Board approved examinations are secure from distribution to students except upon administration of an examination and that the school will follow such instructions as the Board may prescribe covering the administration, storage and disposition of any Board approved examinations that it receives. The Board may impose any sanction permitted by law on the approval of any school which fails to provide proper security for Board approved examinations.
  • Content Areas for Examination - final examinations for approved courses should attempt to measure the students' competence in the knowledge or skills taught in the approved course. A school shall not be required to submit a course final examination to the Board if the examination:
    • consists of multiple choice questions with a minimum of four choices of answers for each question;
    • includes no fewer than two multiple-choice questions for each credit hour of the course.

  A school must submit to the Board for approval any course final examination that does not meet the above criteria prior to the examination's being administered for the approved course.

• Proctoring - whenever a school selects someone other than the school director, coordinator or approved instructor as a proctor to administer a course final examination that person may not be personally related to the student taking the examination or associated with the student in any real estate or appraisal practice. A school must require that any proctor for final examinations sign and date a statement indicating that the proctor personally administered the course final examination and that the proctor administered the examination according to the requirements of this chapter.

• Each course shall begin and end with the playing of any audio or video tape message the Board may require.

• For all courses schools shall include with each instructional unit appropriate reading assignments for completion of the class. The school shall also require that students complete out of class extensive written exercises which the Board approves. Each written assignment must include a student certification statement as written in Section 539-2 of the Board's Rules.

• Schools may offer units of instruction on subjects other than those required by the Board only with prior written approval from the Board.

• While instructors may use such teaching methods as lecture, discussion, questions and answers, etc. in in-class sessions, instruction should also include role play, simulations, or other similar instructional techniques designed to assist students in mastering the skills required to act as a real estate appraiser.

• The school director/coordinator shall be responsible for consistent and regular evaluations of the school's instructors. The director/coordinator shall provide each student with an opportunity to make unsigned, written evaluations of instructors. Schools shall maintain summaries of these evaluation forms for a period of five years or until the instructor is no longer used by the school, whichever is first.

• Notice to Students - all approved classroom courses require a Notice to Students as detailed in Section 539-2-.09 .