Atlanta’s fourth- and eighth-graders are getting better at math, compared to students across the U.S. -- particularly in eighth grade, where fast-rising scores are approaching the national average.

But reading scores still leave room for improvement.

A real problem highlighted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, shows that higher-performing students showed most of the gains with lower-performing students scoring about the same as before.

That can produce wide gaps in scores for some districts that have large groups of well-off students as well as large groups of poor ones.

You can how Atlanta students did at MyAJC.com,

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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Travelers wait in Concourse F, the international terminal, at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Arvin Temkar / AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com