HomePostTopic: Educational attainment

Educational attainment

As August ushers in a new school year, nearly two million students are headed back to Georgia’s 2,300 public schools. How are Georgia schools doing when it comes to preparing kids for work and life? Here are a few key measures of education in Georgia that parents and communities should know as students return to the classroom. 

Learning in Georgia

Results from the latest Georgia Milestones Assessment show students are still struggling with math and reading. In math, 54% of third-graders and 56% of eighth-graders were below proficiency. 

In reading, 45% of eighth-graders were at grade level or above. Third-graders are even further behind—only 38% met proficiency in reading. While that number is up from 36% in 2020, it’s still below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, 42% of third-graders were reading at grade-level or above. 

Demographic data from the Milestones Assessment shows Black and Hispanic third-graders are struggling most when it comes to reading.

Reading proficiency by third grade is a crucial milestone for Georgia’s students. Not only is it necessary for learning in later grades, but it’s also an indicator of future stability and economic opportunity. That’s because literacy is closely linked to high school completion and participation in the workforce. 

 Children who can’t read proficiently by third grade are more likely to drop out of high school, have lower earning potential, and experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment. 

  • The median annual earnings of adults ages 25 to 35 who had not completed high school was $6,300 less than those with a high school diploma.
  • Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 6.2% unemployment rate for people with no high school diploma. It drops to 4.2% for high school graduates and 2.8% for those with an associate’s degree.
  • The poverty rate for those with no high school diploma is 25.1%, compared to 13.1% for those who have finished high school. In Georgia, where an estimated 1.4 million people live in poverty, 25% would roughly equate to 350,000 people. 

A literacy study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation sums up what’s at stake for kids in Georgia and the country if reading proficiency continues to slide: 

 “The bottom line is that if we don’t get dramatically more children on track as proficient readers, the United States will lose a growing and essential proportion of its human capital to poverty, and the price will be paid not only by individual children and families, but by the entire country.” 

Enrollment

Georgia public schools enrolled 1,736,730 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the Georgia Department of Education’s spring 2025 enrollment count. That number marks a drop of 10,964 students from spring 2024. 

As Georgia has taken steps to expand education opportunities, more families are embracing new schooling options to find the best education fit for their kids. Homeschooling is on the rise, and over 15,000 families applied to Georgia’s newest school choice program, the Promise Scholarship, between March 2 and June 30.

Students missing school

Georgia, like many states, is battling a crisis of chronic absenteeism. These are students missing 10% or more of school days—a situation that puts kids further behind in academic progress and raises the high school dropout risk.

Chronic absenteeism and its risks tend to be higher among students from low-income families, students of color, and students with disabilities.  

In Georgia, absenteeism skyrocketed between 2020 and 2021 in the wake of pandemic school closures. In 2019, 12.1% of students had been chronically missing school. By 2021, that number had jumped to 20.1%. Only recently, in 2025, did the percentage dip below 20% for the first time in four years. 

Public school spending

On average, Georgia spends $14,660 on K-12 education per pupil. Pre-kindergarten and K-12 education spending accounts for 38% of the state budget, making it Georgia’s biggest line item. In 2025, the state budget included $13.3 billion for Georgia’s public schools, which was a $1.4 billion increase from 2024. 

Despite these amounts, state funding is only a portion of overall revenue for public schools. Local taxes are the biggest source of education dollars, and a small percentage comes from federal funding. 

New education laws in place this year

Georgia lawmakers passed a handful of education-related bills in 2025 that will impact schools as of this academic year. 

The Georgia Literacy Act stops the use of an instructional reading method called “three-cueuing,” which research has shown to be ineffective. Instead, the law ensures teachers are trained in the science of reading—the evidence-based methods that have proven most successful for teaching reading. 

This is a hopeful step for Georgia students, especially in light of results that similar reforms have had in other states. ExcelinEd specifically noted the astonishing transformation in Mississippi: “Mississippi’s fourth-grade Black students have risen to third in the nation in both reading and math, and Hispanic and low-income students have claimed the top spots in reading and second place in math nationwide.” 

In addition to addressing literacy, Georgia lawmakers have also taken steps to improve school learning environments. Starting this year, a new cell phone law will put stricter limits on student phone use during school hours. The goal is to cut down on distractions and help students stay engaged in the classroom. 

What’s next for education in Georgia?

Georgia’s education measures are more than data. Behind the numbers are real children who will be the next generation of mothers, fathers, business owners, employees, and voters in our state. A quality education is necessary for giving them strong, opportunity-filled futures. 

Solutions to boost math and reading proficiency and address chronic absenteeism can strengthen Georgia’s public schools. These are worthwhile steps to support students whose best—and often only—education option is the local public school. 

At the same time, Georgia leaders should be doing everything possible to remove financial and social barriers to quality education and empowering students and families to access the school of their choice. Prioritizing more opportunities over limited choices is the best way to prevent a lack of quality education from locking Georgia’s kids and communities into poverty.

Image Credit: Canva

Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), charter schools, charter school, alternative education, education options, GA schools, GA education, ga learning

Key Points

  • Research shows between years 2014 and 2019, charter school students were more advanced in math and reading than their public school counterparts. 
  • Students  who experienced the greatest benefits were black and Hispanic student.
  • The data shows that charter schools have consistently performed better than public schools.

When it comes to favorable education outcomes, charter schools consistently outshine the traditional public school system. 

According to an annual report from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), between the years 2014 and 2019, charter school students were more advanced in math and reading than their public school counterparts. CREDO’s research concluded that over the course of a year, those gains equated to an extra six math learning days, and 16 extra reading days, above what public school students receive. 

In terms of performance, 83% of charter school students had stronger reading skills than their counterparts in public school. Seventy-five percent of students in charter schools had higher math performance. 

This is CREDO’s third study on charter schools since 2000. It covered 6,200 schools in 29 states. CREDO used data from standardized tests to obtain its findings.

“It’s clear that charter schools benefit Georgia families by offering a crucial alternative to a traditional public school,” said Buzz Brockway, vice president of public policy for the Georgia Center for Opportunity. “We can add this CREDO study to a growing body of research bearing this out.”

 

Charter schools benefit marginalized students most

According to the data in the CREDO report, marginalized students benefited the most from charter schools’ curricula and practices. Of these students, those who experienced the greatest benefits were black and Hispanic students, students enrolled in English-as-a-second-language programs, and students living in poverty. 

CREDO concluded that black charter school students experienced approximately 35 days of additional progress in reading, and for math, 29 days. These results added up to an extra month and a half of learning per school year. 

It’s crucial that those responsible for students’ wellbeing, from the family to the highest levels of government, take note of these findings. If we want to offer historically marginalized students their best possible educational opportunities, then we must consider making charter schools more accessible than ever before.

 

“Over time, the data shows that charter schools have consistently performed better than public schools.”

“Over time, the data shows that charter schools have consistently performed better than public schools.”

High-quality charter school networks have consistently performed better over time

Over time, the data shows that charter schools have consistently performed better than public schools. CREDO’s research team ultimately ran three studies from 2000 to 2023 to prove that an established pattern existed. With this year’s data in hand, it’s safe to say that charter schools continue to perform well, and the future is looking bright. 

Researchers at CREDO took their initial 2014-2019 time frame and expanded it to cover the years 2009 through 2023. They then compared it to national public school performance. Again, the results remained consistent, with outcomes continuing to track positively for charter school students. 

It’s also important to note the boom in charter school enrollment since 2019. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), enrollment at charter schools jumped by seven percent between fall 2019 and fall 2020 (the start of the pandemic). By the same token, public school enrollment dropped by four percent during that time. 

This increase in demand, combined with emerging data about charter school performance, indicates that we may continue to see charter schools rising in popularity well into the future. 

 

Georgia opted out of this year’s study. Why?

Although Georgia participated in CREDO’s previous two studies, the state opted out of this year’s study. It’s unfortunate, given that Georgia’s charter schools are improving education, graduation rates, and career opportunities for students all over the state. With additional positive data from Georgia in hand, we may have seen even further success reflected in the CREDO study.

That being said, we do have some Georgia specific data to share. The State Charter School Commission (SCSC) compared state authorized charter school growth scores to the growth scores of traditional public schools the students would otherwise attend, following the CREDO study methodology.

 

  • Charter school academic growth compared to local traditional schools is rising nationally. The number of state charter schools in Georgia with higher progress scores than the local traditional schools increased from 2015 to 2019, with over half outperforming in the most recent school year for which data are available 2021-2022.

 

  • Students of color perform better in charter schools. Nationally, the academic performance of Black and Hispanic students attending charters grew by large margins relative to their peers attending traditional public schools. In Georgia, the share of majority-minority state charter schools outperforming their local traditional school comparisons rose dramatically from 17 percent to 60 percent between 2015 and 2019.

 

  • Charter schools yield better academic performance for students living in poverty. From 2015 to 2019, the academic progress of charter school students living in poverty nationwide surpassed that of their peers attending traditional public schools. In 2015, Georgia had 11 state charter schools serving large populations of economically disadvantaged students, and only one had higher growth scores than the traditional local schools. However, by 2019, the number climbed to eight out of 17.

 

  • The instructional delivery model matters and varies by location. At the national level, student performance in fully online charter schools floundered across the five-year period compared to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Conversely, in Georgia, virtual state charters showed significant progress during the same period. By 2021-2022, both statewide virtual charter schools outperformed their traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts in several grades.

 

The SCSC analysis mirrors the result of the CREDO study in all areas except one: Georgia’s virtual charter schools are performing better than virtual charter schools nationally.

 

Wrapping up

It’s essential that every participating state share their outcomes whenever possible. Studies like the one conducted by CREDO provide families and government entities with the compelling, factual information they need to make informed decisions. For families, that decision may mean the choice between a traditional public school and a higher-performing charter school that opens up new opportunities for their students.

For government entities, having plenty of hard data in hand to support charter schools could make it much easier for states to open up charter school access to more students. When states opt out of providing this all-important information, children ultimately suffer most.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Unless you’re a taxpayer, in which case you will get less than you wanted from Washington even though they used your money.

President Obama has left office, and the results of the ideas issued under his watch are coming in. Education research demonstrates we didn’t always get a bargain. A new study finds that a multi-billion-dollar federal grant program that incentivized district schools to change their operations neither changed such operations nor resulted in student achievement.

From 2009 to 2016, the U.S. Department of Education awarded School Improvement Grants (SIG). Each year, the agency divided approximately $500 million between states as part of Obama’s stimulus package to help ease schools out of the financial crisis that started in 2007. Georgia schools received approximately $16 million per year from 2014-16.

Schools could fire the principal, replace half of the teachers, and change instructional strategies like adding instructional time to the school day (part of what are called the “transformation” and “turnaround” methods); convert to a charter school; or close the school and send students to better-performing schools.

The result? SIG had no effect—none—on student achievement, graduation rates, or college enrollment.

Note this key detail: Researchers studied 1,200 participating schools and found that the transformation/turnaround methods were by far the most popular choices for schools. Just 33 schools converted to a charter school and 16 closed and allowed students to attend higher performing schools (3 percent and 1 percent of 1,253 schools, respectively). Thus, more money and grant applications promising to teach differently did not result in drastic changes.

Remarkably, researchers had already documented that some of the strategies SIG incentivized in the transformation/turnaround approaches were not supported by rigorous evidence: “Previous literature provides mixed evidence on the effectiveness of some of these practices at raising student achievement.” Yet Washington still spent some $7 billion over nearly a decade encouraging these activities.

Meanwhile, approximately 2,000 new charter schools opened without this federal slush fund from 2009 to 2016. Today, more than 6,000 charter schools operate nationwide. Charter schools are different state-to-state, but in some areas where all public school results disappoint, like Detroit, Michigan, charter schools are outperforming district schools. Those opposing President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Department of Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, have cited Detroit’s low scores and DeVos’s support of parental choice in Michigan as evidence that she is not qualified for the post.

But multiple studies demonstrate that Detroit charter school students are outperforming their peers in traditional schools. DeVos’s skeptics are free to scrutinize her policy positions, but opponents lose credibility when they misrepresent data.

Likewise, in Arizona, charter schools outperform district schools in terms of eventual college graduates. Charter schools account for 14 percent of Arizona’s total public school population, yet charter schools make up for 5 of the top 10 public schools in the state for students finishing college in 4 years.

Arizona charter schools—like nearly all charter schools in the U.S.—are producing these results despite being funded with less money per student than district public schools. Georgia charter schools are funded at approximately $3,000 less per student than district schools, and low-income 8th grade charter students are outperforming their peers in a national comparison. Now there’s a bargain.

Again, more SIG schools opted not to convert to a charter school with their grant money, choosing more administrative changes instead. And researchers did not find better student outcomes.

Let’s hope policymakers learned a lesson from a failed experiment relying on more taxpayer money for public schools. Lawmakers should commit to giving parents and children more quality educational choices over the next four years. Families will get a better deal when they can choose how and where their children learn.

School Bus

Georgia’s public school system is failing many of our children, and it seems everybody has an opinion in regard to what needs to happen. But one truism has become apparent: More money is not the solution.

Nationally, spending on public education in constant dollars has nearly tripled since 1970, and the expenditures per student have doubled from $4,500 per student per year in 1970 to almost $11,000 today.[1] During this same time period, the National Average for Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for 17-year-olds have remained essentially unchanged. Americans spend more money per-student than any other nation in the world while only performing in the middle-to-back of the pack among developed countries.

While an increase in spending has not yielded higher achievement scores among U.S. students, it has been successful in accomplishing one thing: increasing the size of school administration. Since 1950, the overall number of school administrators in the U.S. has risen by a staggering 702 percent, while the number of teachers has only grown by 252 percent, and the number of students has increased by only 96 percent.[2] For all this growth in school administration and faculty, the outcomes in student achievement have been disappointing.

The same can be said for Georgia. Spending on public education increased drastically from $5.6 billion in 1993 to $17.4 billion in 2012, yielding an improved student-teacher ratio during this time period (16.7 in 1993 to 15.6 in 2012). Yet despite all this spending and having more teachers and smaller classroom sizes, NAEP scores for eighth grade students in Georgia remained virtually the same. Similarly, the high school graduation rate did not improve significantly during this time period, going from 67.6 percent in 1996 to 71.5 percent in 2012, while hitting a low of 60.8 percent in 2002.

Both in Georgia and nationally we continue to operate under the assumption that more money and more staff will solve the problem of a failing educational system. However, statistic after statistic indicates that pouring more money into Georgia’s failing public school system will not provide any substantial improvement, especially for Georgia’s most vulnerable children. There have, and continue to be, serious and well-intentioned efforts to reform the system. But because these reforms only provide minor changes to the system without seeking to change the way the system is organized, they limit themselves to minor improvements in standardized test scores.

In order to improve the educational opportunities we give Georgia’s children and ensure that the money spent on public education is not wasted on poor results, Georgia needs a new and innovative approach to education – an approach that gives parents the power to see their children succeed in education and in life. We need quality instruction that meets the needs of an enormously diverse group of students in a broad range of circumstances.

This just might be the power that newly proposed Education Savings Accounts offer.

 

Notes

[1] McShane, Michael. How America’s Education System Fails to Live Up to Its Promises (Washington, DC: AEI Press, 2015).

[2] Ibid.

Dejected Student - 640

According to the most recent data released by the National Center for Education Statistics this January, Georgia’s high school graduation rate is still one of the lowest in the nation at 72 percent, despite good improvement over the last two years. Only three states and the District of Columbia have a lower graduation rate than Georgia. Compare this to such states as Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin, which all have a graduation rate of 88, and Iowa which leads the pack at 90.

Georgia’s struggles don’t end with its graduation rate. Education Week released the latest report cards for each state this January in the categories of Chance-for-Success, School Finance, and K-12 Achievement in its 19th annual Quality Counts – Preparing to Launch: Early Childhood’s Academic Countdown. Georgia earned a grade of C-Minus and a ranking of 31st overall amongst the 50 states, based on its rankings of 37th, 31st, and 17th in each respective category. Georgia is below the nation as a whole, which earned a grade of C.

It would be one thing if Georgia ranked near the middle of the pack in a country whose educational outcomes far exceeded those of other developing countries around the world. However, when comparing how the U.S. education system stacks up on the international playing field, the results are not promising.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessed the competencies of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science in 65 countries and economies in 2012. Among the 34 countries who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the U.S. performed below average in mathematics, ranking 27th, and close to the OECD average in reading and science, ranking 17th and 20th respectively. According to PISA, U.S. students’ performance has not changed significantly over time despite the U.S. spending more per student than most countries.

So, what do these statistics teach us?

If Georgia stands in the middle of the pack when compared to other states in educating our children, in a country that is in the middle-to-the-back of the pack among developed countries, it’s safe to conclude that as a state we are failing to produce the level of excellence we desire for our children in an increasingly globalized economy.

Far too many students are stuck in failing schools that stifle them from reaching their full potential simply because their zip code affords them no other options. As a state, we cannot afford to let students spend another day in a failing school. The cost is too high individually and collectively.

Mediocre results call for a change in the status quo. Instead of keeping the same old system that is failing to produce the outcomes we hope to see, why not try a different strategy?

Below is a guest blog by Mrs. Sheila Caldwell, Director for Complete College Georgia at the University of North Georgia. Mrs. Caldwell currently serves as a member of  GCO’s College & Career Pathways working group.

************************15 to finish

In a recent poll of high school seniors asking how many credit hours per semester they should take when they go to college; more than 50 percent indicated 12 hours as an ideal college course load. Though 12 hours is a full-time course load, it is impossible for a student to earn a bachelor’s degree within four years unless a student takes an additional six hours during the summer. The primary route to earning a bachelor’s degree within four years is to successfully complete 15 credit hours per semester, for a total of 30 credit hours annually.

To improve college graduation rates and encourage on-time completion, the state of Georgia has launched 15 to Finish, a proven advisement, retention, progression, and graduation initiative that encourages students to take 15 credits per semester, thereby spending less time and money to earn a degree. The goal of Complete College Georgia and 15 to Finish is to provide better information and educate all students on tuition and fees, graduation rates, and job opportunities to ensure successful college completion.

The 15 to Finish initiative is important because many students express a desire to graduate within four years. Colleges are referred to as either four-year or two-year institutions, but most students are taking longer to graduate. In fact, if 100 students entered college today in the state of Georgia, only 11 students would graduate on time at a four-year college and only five would graduate on time at a two-year college (Complete College America, 2011). Full time-students are taking an average of five years to earn a bachelor’s degree and four years to earn an associate degree (Complete College Georgia, 2011). Many students are unaware of the potential consequences that can result from taking fewer credit hours, including a higher likelihood of non-completion, lost wages, and increased college costs.

A cost analysis conducted by the University System of Georgia seeking to determine how much a student would pay for a degree based on the number of credit hours taken per semester revealed staggering results. For example, a student enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program at the University of North Georgia (UNG) would pay an average of $42,236 to earn a degree by completing only three credit hours per semester compared to $26,768 if completing 15 hours per semester– nearly $15,000 in savings for a UNG student who graduates on time. The study found the cost difference is even more drastic for students who wish to attend Georgia Tech or the University of Georgia (UGA). The chart below illustrates an additional expense of $74,000 for Georgia Tech and $90,000 for UGA for students taking only 3 hours per semester.

Credits/

Semester

GA Tech

UGA

3

$119,474.00

$134,357.00

6

$75,914.00

$73,317.00

9

$72,875.00

$70,205.00

12

$56,164.00

$54,587.00

15

$45,514.00

$44,325.00

 

15 to finish graph

Not only do students reap significant financial benefits when they enroll in 15 hours every semester until degree completion, they also experience quicker entry and higher wages when they transition into the workforce. Students graduating from UNG with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $20,000 more annually than their high school counterparts. A college student who graduates within four years with a bachelor’s degree earns $40,000 more in income than a college student who takes six years to graduate. Additionally, associate degree holders who graduate within 2 years earns $19,000 more than associate degree holders who take four years to graduate (Education Pays, 2013). Many part-time students do not consider the enormous amount of money foregone in the workforce when they delay college completion by one or two years.

Part-time students pay more for their degree and incur lost wages because they lack a college credential. They also jeopardize their entire college career. According to “Time is the Enemy” (CCA, 2011), only 15% of part-time students will earn a bachelor’s degree within six years compared to 57% of full-time students. Only 7.8% of associate degree seekers will earn a degree within four years. The 15 to Finish initiative seeks to battle dismal college completion rates.

College completion not only enhances an individual’s economic well-being, it can improve overall quality of life in the following ways: longer life spans, better access to health care, more prestigious employment and greater job satisfaction, less dependency on government assistance, greater participation in leisure, civic, and artistic activities, and more self- confidence (Education Pays, 2013).

Serving as a member of the College and Career Pathways working group, the Complete College Georgia (CCG) 15 to Finish initiative is perfectly aligned with recent discussions among the panel. The primary goals of the working group are to develop and promote programs that encourage at-risk youth to graduate high school and attain college and career success. GCO and CCG collaborate to help all students better prepare, connect to, and navigate college. Our ultimate aim is to enable greater mobility and opportunity among Georgia citizens.

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CaldwellSheila2013-600x400

Sheila Caldwell aims to help students successfully access and complete college at University of North Georgia. She is passionate about opportunity over charity and strives diligently to be a change agent for economically disadvantaged students across the state of Georgia.

Elementary pupils outside classroom talking to teacher. Courtesy: nspt4kids.com

Elementary pupils outside classroom talking to teacher. Courtesy: nspt4kids.com

Hidden beneath academic benchmarks, league tables, and other measures of success in education, are the relationships and personal traits that fuel positive and negative outcomes for students. Attending the College Access Challenge Grant Georgia Conference earlier this week, I realized this theme as presenters with extremely challenging backgrounds–such as one man who was abandoned at a bus station when he was 5 years old–shared their stories of trial and triumph. Relationships–both the ones we build with others, and the one we nurture with ourselves–are the true challenge of preparing students to be successful in school and in life.

Prefacing the College Access Challenge Grant Georgia Conference, Georgia Center for Opportunity hosted a meeting focused on the non-academic needs of students earlier this week. Presenters Reginald Beaty and Tony Owens, independent consultants and Co-Deans of Students at Paine College in Augusta, Ga, enlightened the College and Career Pathways working group with trend leading research on non-cognitive variables.

If I just lost you, non-cognitive variables, more commonly referred to as “soft-skills,” are the qualities such as self-awareness, resilience, and even time management that bridge testable knowledge with actual successful outcomes. Notable scholars such as Angela Duckworth, and William Sedlacek, Ph.D have led the conversation on how these skills can be fostered within traditional and nontraditional school settings to transform individual students’ mindsets to ensure they are better prepared to overcome adverse learning challenges.

Paring my experience at the conference with the meeting on non-cognitive variables, I gained 2 important take-aways this week:

  1. Personal experiences with adversity can build “soft-skills” such as self-perception and grit (the ability to preserve past challenges to reach long-term goals) that aid academic success. However, the framing of these vital skills in a negative context can potentially render them useless to students.

  1. Actively working to connect with students on an individual level, in some cases weeding through the traumas of a student’s life, can change the context through which students utilize these traits to close achievement gaps and reach personal redemption.

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D notes in her acclaimed book A Framework for Understanding Poverty, that “support systems are simply networks of relationships.” From both meetings, the consensus was that  more streamlined support systems are needed to empower students, and there is still much debate around how to deliver a more relationship-focused infrastructure. Seeking a solution for this issue will continue to be at the heart of the College and Career Pathways working group.

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