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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Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank — pictured posing with HBCU students before an exhibition game in 2024 — has made many contribution to historically Black colleges and universities over the years, especially to schools in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/AJC 2024)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

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Mathew Palmer, a former Delta Air Lines employee, at his home in Atlanta on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.  Palmer was fired less than two weeks after writing a post on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Natrice Miller/AJC)