The share of Atlanta Public Schools students in grades 3 through 8 meeting math competency standards rose from 31.6 percent in 2024 to 39.6 percent in 2026, according to analysis by RedefinED Atlanta. The eight-percentage-point gain over two years more than doubled the improvement across Georgia statewide in the same period, narrowing the gap between the district and state average from roughly ten points to less than six.
Atlanta Public Schools announced in August 2026 that it led the metro Atlanta region in annual gains on the Proficient or Above performance level in end-of-grade math, science, and social studies tests, with improvements exceeding double the state average. Georgia's education department reported that proficiency levels rose or held steady on 12 of 13 state assessments. State School Superintendent Richard Woods attributed the improvement to Georgia's shift away from Common Core toward state-developed standards.
Benchmarking peers in metro Atlanta
Other school systems in metro Atlanta showed varied progress. Marietta City Schools increased math proficiency between 2024 and 2026 by 7.2 percentage points, from 46.4 to 53.6 percent. Clayton County went from 20.5 to 26.3 percent. Across the region, grades 3 through 8 math proficiency in 2026 ranged from 26.3 percent in Clayton County to 78.2 percent in Decatur City Schools. RedefinED Atlanta notes that such differences require context. School systems serve different communities, face different challenges, and begin from different starting points. No single district, sector, or program emerges as a universal answer to Georgia's math challenges, the organization says, but the data point toward areas for deeper investigation.
Back to the Basics strategy guides district progress
Atlanta Public Schools credits its Back to the Basics 2030 strategy for the advances. Assistant Superintendent Selena Florence described tutoring as one of several tools to recover instruction time lost after schools returned to in-person teaching. The district notes these are its highest cross-subject gains since Georgia introduced the Milestones Assessment System in 2015. Despite the progress, Atlanta Public Schools in grades 3 through 8 still trailed the state average of 45.3 percent in 2026.