29 Georgia schools that are beating the odds

It’s no secret that schools nationally that have lots of students from low-income families tend to score lower on state standardized tests.

In Georgia, one in five of the schools receiving As under the new state ratings released this month have student bodies that are mostly low-income. (In this case, low-income means students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.)

In fact, Georgia has gradually changed the formula used to calculate its school ratings in ways that tend to help high-poverty schools. For this year’s ratings, student improvement counted for more while absolute academic achievement counted for less.

Atlanta Public Schools' Carver Early College High School, where nearly all students are low-income, received a A+ from the state this year.

So did Clayton County's Elite Scholars Academy, which will close at the end of this school year and reopen as district-run magnet school. Clayton's Stilwell School for the Performing Arts also received an A from the state.

Gwinnett County’s Shiloh Elementary School, where more than 70 percent of students are low-income, also got an A from the state. So did three DeKalb schools, including Wadsworth Magnet School for High Achievers, DeKalb Early College Academy and Arabia Mountain High School’s Academy of Engineering, Medicine and Environment.

Here’s a list of Georgia schools that are beating the odds: