The Georgia Department of Education recognized 35 APS schools that demonstrated exceptional achievement or growth in reading and mathematics during the 2024-2025 school year.
“We’re excited about the growth and the achievement that we’ve seen taking place across the district,” Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson said. “This tells the community that it’s not a lucky thing that’s happening. It’s a system of structures and processes. It’s schools that are repeating the success, and that’s what we want as a school system.”
State School Superintendent Richard Woods visited Benjamin E. Mays High School to celebrate the achievement with the award-winning schools and present them with their banners and ribbons.
More than 400 schools in the state met the qualifications for recognition as Literacy Leaders and Math Leaders. Awards were given based on the outlined criteria at the elementary and middle school levels, and at the high school level, based on the American Literature EOC, which is the state test for ELA in high school.
Literacy Leader qualifications use the Georgia Milestones Reading Status indicator, which is based on the Lexile score associated with students’ performance on a subset of questions on the ELA assessment.
Math awards were given based on the outlined criteria at the elementary and middle school levels, and at the high school level, based on the Algebra: Concepts and Connections EOC, which is the state test for mathematics in high school. Math Leader qualifications are based on students achieving the Proficient Learner level or above on the Georgia Milestones mathematics assessments.
“We had a large number of schools that also received ribbons, which means we’re continuing to see success,” Woods said. “For Atlanta Public Schools, we received good growth, good progress, and just a lot of great teaching going on within the schools.”
Here are a few highlights from APS Schools:
- Benjamin E. Mays High School had growth of 16.4 points in literacy and received the Literacy Leader banner for high schools, which State Superintendent Woods claims is the hardest banner to earn.
- Humphries Elementary School’s third-grade literacy had a growth of 45 points, which State Superintendent Woods said was one of the highest growths in the state.
- Mary Lin Elementary School’s third, fourth, and fifth graders had reading proficiency scores above 90%.
“This is huge for educators, especially in APS,” Mays’ Assistant Principal LaToya Howard said. “It shows that we’re doing the work, it’s paying off, and our students are getting quality education.”
These APS schools were recognized at the Literacy Leader and Math Leader Presentation:
- Atlanta Classical Academy
- Atlanta Neighborhood Charter – Elementary School
- Atlanta Neighborhood Charter – Middle School
- The B.E.S.T. Academy
- Bazoline E. Usher-Collier Elementary School
- Benjamin E. Mays High School
- Charles Drew Charter Junior/ Senior Academy
- Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy
- David T. Howard Middle School
- Deerwood Academy
- Emma Hutchinson Elementary School
- Garden Hills Elementary School
- John Lewis Invictus Academy
- Joseph Humphries Elementary School
- Kindezi Old 4th Ward
- KIPP Atlanta Collegiate Charter School
- KIPP Soul Academy
- KIPP Vision Charter School
- KIPP Vision Primary School
- L.O. Kimberley Elementary School
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School
- Mary Lin Elementary School
- Michael R. Hollis Innovation Academy
- Morningside Elementary School
- Peyton Forest Elementary School
- R.N. Fickett Elementary School
- Sarah Rawson Smith Elementary School
- Springdale Park Elementary School
- The Kindezi School
- Thomas Heathe Slater Elementary School
- Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy
- Wesley International Academy Charter School
- West Manor Elementary School
- William M. Boyd Elementary School
- Willis A. Sutton Middle School
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