Atlanta Public Schools is making progress on a new tool to measure student achievement, said Superintendent Erroll Davis in a letter to parents and community members. APS is one of the first districts in the state to launch a "value-added" system, which looks at how much a student grows academically from year-to-year rather than whether they pass or fail a standardized test. "This is a different way of looking at student achievement," he said. "While we have a long road ahead of us, the route to getting there is getting clearer." See the letter at: www.atlanta.k12.ga.us.