Georgia’s high school graduation rate has improved for the fourth year in a row, reaching another historic high.
The class of 2025 in Georgia earned an 87.2% graduation rate — a 1.8-point increase over last year and a 6.4-point jump compared to 10 years ago.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods called it “a new day” for Georgia students when the scores were released Monday.
DeKalb County, which has long had one of the lowest graduation rates in the state, celebrated a nearly 2-point jump this year. At 81.4%, this is the first time the graduation rate for the state’s third-largest district has topped 80%. District leaders recognized schools’ hard work at Lithonia High School on Monday.
“This is not a one-year trick, not a two-year trick. We are on a mission,” said DeKalb Superintendent Devon Horton. “We have created a system here that allows our students to maximize their potential.”
Horton described efforts to give all students a postsecondary push plan for their next steps, be that education, employment, enlisting in the military or entrepreneurship. In recent years, it started hosting “half-cap” ceremonies to encourage sophomores who are on track to graduate to keep going. And the district works with a company to find students who have dropped out of school and help them finish.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Statewide, Woods credited the hard work of teachers and an investment in career and technical education with helping to improve the rate. Giving students a reason to come to school is vital, he said, applauding DeKalb’s efforts.
“We will move together or we will sink together,” Woods said. “When the DeKalb County school system moves forward, all of Georgia moves forward.”
“This is the start of something great,” Horton said.
Clayton County saw the biggest improvement in metro Atlanta, with a 3.3-point jump to 86.3%. Graduation rates in Atlanta Public Schools, City Schools of Decatur, Fayette County, Forsyth County, Fulton County and Marietta City Schools all top 90%. Cherokee County also tops 90%, although its rate went down 1.7 points compared to last year.
About two dozen schools statewide had 100% graduation rates. The rate increased among all racial subgroups, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students and English learners.
The graduation rate is calculated by dividing the number of students who earn a regular high school diploma by the number of students in the “adjusted cohort” for the graduating class. That cohort comprises all the students who entered a Georgia high school as freshmen four years prior, minus those who transferred out, plus those who transferred in.
Georgia saw a 0.1-point decrease in its graduation rate in 2021, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, the state has steadily improved its rate since the current calculation went into effect in 2011.
High school graduation rates have risen nationwide in recent years. The increase, though, is in contrast to recent data that suggests many high school seniors are struggling academically. Federal National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “the nation’s report card,” showed just 22% of 12th graders last year performed at or above NAEP proficient in math, and 35% of those students performed at or above NAEP proficient in reading, a decline from the class of 2019. The data was released earlier this month.
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