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Graduation Rate

Atlanta Public Schools Graduation Rate Surpasses 90% for First Time

by Thomas Scott
written by Thomas Scott

By: APS Office of Communications and Public Engagement

Atlanta Public Schools (APS) achieved a new all-time high graduation rate of 90.5 percent (90.48) for cohort 2025, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

This tops last year’s rate of 88.6 – and the district has surpassed the state’s graduation rate (87.2) for the third consecutive year. It is also the first time the district’s graduation rate is higher than 90 percent. See Figure 1

“We are proud of this achievement and what it means for the students of Atlanta’s public schools. We appreciate the commitment and resilience of our students, staff, school board and our community of believers,” APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson said. “Now the work continues to ensure that every APS graduate not only completes high school, but finishes ready to enroll, enlist, be employed or pursue entrepreneurship.”

A total of 3,095 students graduated on time from APS in 2025, surpassing last year’s number of 2,873 graduates.  The percentage of students who graduated in 2025 is higher than any other year since 2012, when the state adopted the cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This is an increase of 222 graduates from 2024. The 2025 cohort included 3,421 students, 171 larger than the 2024 cohort (3,250).  

Of the 16 schools with graduating classes, 11 achieved percentage-point gains in their graduation rate compared to 2024, with single-gender (girls) Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy maintaining its 100 percent graduation rate for the seventh consecutive year. 

The largest increase from a traditional high school was Frederick Douglass, which achieved a 7.33 percentage-point gain.  Other traditional schools achieving gains include Booker T. Washington (+5.70), Midtown (+2.56), and single-gender (boys) Business Engineering Science Technology (BEST) Academy (+3.32). Charter/Partner schools with gains included KIPP Collegiate (+2.36) and Carver STEAM (+12.41). See Figure 2

Eleven schools had graduation rates greater than 90 percent:  Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (100%), Charles Drew Secondary (98.2%), BEST (97.4%), Atlanta Classical Academy (97.2%), KIPP Collegiate (96.6%), Midtown (95.3%), North Atlanta (93.7%), George Washington Carver Early College (93.7%), Jackson High School (91.1%), George Washington Carver STEAM Academy (91%), and Therrell (90.5%). See Figure 3

APS also achieved record highs for graduation rates of Black students (89.1%), students with disabilities (83.1%), English learners (82.6%), and Economically Disadvantaged students (88.9%).

The graduation rate for White students (97.3%) was higher than the cohort 2024 rate, and the gap between Black students and White students continues to narrow. Slightly over eight percentage points separated the graduation rates of Black and White students in 2025, compared to nearly 11 percentage points in 2024.

“The Class of 2025 continues to raise the bar for Atlanta Public Schools, achieving a record graduation rate of 90.48 percent, the first time in our district’s history we have surpassed 90 percent, and once again outpacing the state average. The steady gains our students are making are both historic and inspiring,” said Atlanta Board of Education Chair Erika Y. Mitchell.” Surpassing 90 percent and eclipsing the state rate for the third consecutive year reflects the hard work of our students, educators, families, and community, as well as the leadership of Dr. Bryan Johnson and his administration team. As a Board, we remain committed to ensuring every student has the resources, support, and opportunities needed to sustain and build upon this success.”

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Atlanta Public Schools Reaches All-Time Graduation Rate High of 88.4 Percent

by Jasmine Mosley
written by Jasmine Mosley

ATLANTA – Atlanta Public Schools (APS) achieved an 88.4 percent graduation rate for cohort 2024, according to the Georgia Department of Education, which officially released graduation rates for the Class of 2024, Tuesday.

This marks the highest all-time graduation rate for the district, and once again, the district has surpassed the state’s graduation rate of 85.4% by 3 percentage points.

“It is our intention to continue building upon what we’ve accomplished to ensure APS produces high-performing graduates who are prepared for a four-year university or technical college, ready to obtain a desired certification or credential leading directly to work, and a future that guarantees a successful career and life,” Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson said. 

Here are more details:

A total of 2,873 students graduated on time from APS in 2024. The percentage of students who graduated in 2024 is higher than any other year since 2012, when the state adopted the cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This is an increase of 61 graduates from 2023. The 2024 cohort included 3,250 students, 3 larger than the 2023 cohort. See Figure 1. 

Of the 16 schools with graduating classes, 9 achieved percentage-point gains compared to 2023. The largest increase from a traditional high school was Douglass High School, which achieved a 12.7-percentage-point gain. Other traditional schools achieving gains include Washington (+9.7), Therrell (+7.1), South Atlanta (+4.4), Jackson High School (+1.5), Midtown (+1.5), Charter/Partner schools with gains included KIPP Collegiate (+1.3) and Carver STEAM (+0.2). Single Gender school BEST HS also increased graduation rate by 0.4 percentage points.  See Figure 2.

In addition, eleven schools had graduation rates greater than 90 percent: Atlanta Classical Academy (100%), Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (100%), Drew Secondary (98.2%), KIPP Collegiate (94.3%), BEST (94.1%), North Atlanta (92.9%), Midtown (92.8%), Carver Early (92.7%), South Atlanta (92.2%), Therrell (91.7%) and Jackson High School (90.6%).

Among other results from the latest graduation rates:

  • Graduation rates for Black students (86.2%) and Hispanic students (90.2%) reached all-time highs with the 2024 cohort, while the rate for White students (97.0%) was higher than the cohort 2023 rate. See Figure 3.
  • Nearly 11 percentage points separated the graduation rates of Black students and White students. This is one percentage point lower than the cohort 2023 difference.
  • Graduation rates for students with disabilities (78.8%) reached an all-time high with a 2.6 percentage point increase over 2023.
  • The 2024 graduation rate for English learners (82.5%) reached an all-time high with a 16.8 percentage point increase over 2023.
  • Graduation rates for Economically Disadvantaged students (86.5%) reached an all-time high with a 3.7 percentage point increase over 2023.

“We are proud of the continued progress the district is making,” Atlanta Board of Education Chair Erika Y. Mitchell said. “The district’s graduation rate of 88.4% is an indicator that APS is continuously headed toward the pathway of excellence, and it is important to acknowledge the efforts of our students and staff, who have once again reached another historic graduation rate milestone.”

# # #

Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate

Georgia has calculated an adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal law since 2012, and this calculation has not changed over this period. APS only reports the official state graduation rate. The four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate is the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. From the beginning of ninth grade, students who are entering that grade for the first time form a cohort that is subsequently “adjusted” by adding any students who transfer into the cohort during the next four years and subtracting any students who transfer out. Students who drop-out remain in a four-year adjusted cohort.

About Atlanta Public Schools Atlanta Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the state of Georgia, serving approximately 50,000 students across 87 learning sites, including 59 neighborhood schools, 5 partner schools, 19 charter schools, 2 citywide single-gender academies, and 2 alternative programs. To learn more about Atlanta Public Schools, follow us on social media – Twitter (@apsupdate), Facebook (Atlanta Public Schools), and Instagram (apsupdate) – or visit us online at www.atlantapublicschools.us

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Intentional strategies boosted graduation rate at Mays High School

by Thomas Scott
written by Thomas Scott

The APS class of 2023 was a special class that made district history by achieving the highest graduation rate and surpassing the state average.

APS achieved its all-time high graduation rate (86.6 percent) and exceeded the state graduation rate of 84.4 percent by 2.2 percentage points, according to graduation data released today by the Georgia Department of Education.

“I am incredibly proud of the graduating Class of 2023,” APS Interim Superintendent Dr. Danielle Battle said. “We are simply elated to celebrate another historic accomplishment! Our students and staff have worked extremely hard to increase our graduation rate and for our results to surpass the state average is truly a testament to the tremendous efforts of everyone in Atlanta Public Schools. We plan to continue building on this momentum by amplifying the work we’re currently doing.”

Mays High School was one of the schools that made great strides in improving their graduation rate (89.9%) with a 5.7 percentage-point gain compared to 2022.

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“A principal couldn’t ask for much more,” Mays High School principal Ramon Garner said. “That says to me that there are some really great systems and structures in place, and my job is to continue that work and take it to the next level.”

The staff at Mays High School implemented multiple strategies to help achieve the 89.9% graduation rate, but one of the more impactful strategies was making sure each student met with a counselor to help them stay on course for graduation.

“Of course, our goal is for 100% of our scholars to graduate,” Mays senior academy assistant principal Valerie Reed Taylor said. “But my primary role is working with Ms. (Tonya) McKenzie, the counseling team, the graduation coaches, and the college advisors to make sure that our students have everything in place that they need to be successful this year, as well as developing individualized post-graduation plans for all of our scholars.”

Mays also implemented repeater courses into schedules for students to retake courses in a classroom in the spring semester that they may have failed in the fall. They also made sure EOC courses were scheduled in a timely manner and worked with the night school program as well to ensure students were able to recover the courses they needed.

“Our team, along with some of our other colleagues who are not here now, worked really hard to make sure our kids were successful,” Mays business manager and master scheduler Tonya McKenzie said.

The hard work paid off and inspired the next class of scholars in the halls of Mays High School. Jacob Jordan, a senior in the class of 2024 at Mays, said the 2023 graduation rate has motivated him to aim even higher.

“I want our class to be higher than the 89.9%,” he said. “I want us to be in the 90-91% range. That also helps me to motivate my classmates to do better.”

Jordan often visits with his school counselor, who helps him stay on top of his grades. He also makes use of the Mays High School College and Career Center for his school assignments and college application preparations.

“My counselor, she’s there for me,” Jordan said. “Anytime I need something, I know I can go in her office, sit down and talk to her about it. She’s always making sure I’m on track with my grades.”

The teachers, staff and students at Mays High School are continuing the work that helped them reach that 89.9% graduation rate and pushing for another increase with the class of 2024.

“I can already tell they are pushing to get over that 90%,” Dr. Battle said.

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Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy celebrates progress of first year

by Thomas Scott
written by Thomas Scott

After its first full school year, The Frederick Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy has a lot to be proud of.

As the only APS school with a separate ninth-grade academy on a separate campus from the main high school, the Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy made significant progress across several data points including attendance, retention and student sense of belonging.

“One of the reasons we started the ninth-grade academy was simply because Douglass had the lowest graduation rate, the highest suspension rate, and the highest dropout rate in the district,” Douglass High School principal Forrestella Taylor said. “These are all things that just plagued the school and removed it so far from what it used to be, which was a national school of excellence.”

Frederick Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy students taking an Usher’s New Look Spark assessment (photo: Lauren Cole).

Creating the ninth-grade academy was just one of the strategies implemented to help change the school’s culture and student’s trajectory. Previously, ninth graders were the primary source of out-of-school suspensions, inappropriate offenses, and negative behavior offenses.

“There’s definitely a much safer environment on our campus,” Taylor said. “Simply by putting systems and protocols in place that protect the environment and being able to do so because we can keep our ninth grade separate and focus on what needs to be focused there. It’s like night and day at the main campus.”

The APS Class of 2023 achieved an all-time high graduation rate of 86.6%, according to graduation data released today by the Georgia Department of Education, and Douglass High School led the district with the largest increase in percentage points (7.2) gained compared to 2022. See. Figure. 1.

Figure 1: 2023 APS Graduation Rates and Change from 2022

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Since separating from the main campus, students at the ninth-grade academy reported having a clear sense of belonging, and each student could identify at least one adult with whom they had a connection with or built a relationship with.

“What we’ve experienced in just two years’ time is a shift in the culture where our students were not necessarily excited to own the fact that they were Douglass students,” Taylor said. “They very much say it loud and proud now, ‘It’s a great day to be an Astro,’ and it is.”

The smaller campus allowed students to have more personalized learning and goal setting meetings where they could see their grades, talk about them and set their own goals.

Douglass 9th Grade STEAM Academy social worker Kimberly Brown Mack works with a student on a Spark assessment (photo: Lauren Cole).

Utilizing a separate ninth-grade campus also resulted in improved attendance. Ninth grade had the highest average daily attendance rate among all four grade levels, according to Taylor.

The ninth-grade failure rate decreased significantly as well. Douglass’ retention rate, the number of students retained out of the class, dropped from 100-150 each year, to only 40. After a year with the ninth-grade academy, less than 40 students had to repeat ninth grade and the out-of-school suspension rate reduced by approximately 20%.

“All those data points, suspension, attendance, sense of belonging, can contribute to dropout rates if they’re in the negative,” Taylor said. “We have a long way to go, but the initial year of the ninth-grade academy has proven that we need to continue on this path. We’re excited about the things we’ve learned from our inaugural year, and really excited about what this will look like moving forward.”

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Atlanta Public Schools improves graduation rate, reduces dropout rate

by talkupaps
written by talkupaps

942070_599605530059293_1804349264_nAcross Atlanta, more students are graduating on time and fewer students are dropping out.

According to results released this week by the state education department, the four-year, on-time graduation rate for APS increased by 8 percentage points – or more than 15 percent – from 51 percent in 2012 to 59 percent in 2013. This encouraging news follows APS’ announcement earlier this school year that its dropout rate has declined. The annual dropout rate for APS decreased from 11 percent in 2012 to 8.5 percent in 2013. (See graduation rate and dropout rate charts below.)

Dr. Rubye Sullivan, director of research and evaluation for school improvement in Atlanta Public Schools, is pleased with the increase.  “We are very pleased with the growth and gains we have seen in the graduation rate,” said Sullivan.  ” We also understand that we need to see our rate increase more rapidly than our neighboring districts and the state in order to catch up on behalf of our students.”

“Under a more rigorous calculation method, the trend still shows that the percentage of our high school students graduating increases year to year,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge in a message earlier this week to school leaders. “Despite the economic challenges our districts are facing, we have more high school students graduating today than we have had in several years, which is a testament to the hard work of our students and teachers. We must continue our progress to ensure all students cross the finish line, because without a high school diploma, their options are very limited.”

The positive results in Atlanta Public Schools can be attributed to many factors, including intensive professional development for APS teachers and principals and the fact that APS schools have done a better job of tracking students who switch schools during the school year.  In a district with a 30% mobility rate, with some students switching schools 3 or 4 times during a single school year, keeping up with a graduation cohort is an important part of accurately calculating the graduation rate.

According to the Georgia Department of Education, the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate defines the cohort based on when a student first becomes a freshman. The rate is calculated using the number of students who graduate within four years and includes adjustments for student transfers. In contrast, Georgia’s former graduation rate calculation defined the cohort upon graduation, which may have included students who took more than four years to graduate from high school.

Another important factor behind APS’ significant increase is access to innovative learning opportunities, such as the Atlanta Virtual Academy.

“Last year we launched Atlanta Virtual Academy, our online credit recovery program,” said Sullivan.   “As students recognize in their junior and senior year that they are missing credits, they no longer have to wait to take the course, they can have access immediately and meet their graduation requirements.”

In addition, the district’s overhaul of the graduation coach program is making a difference. Every middle and high school campus is served by a designated APS graduation coach, who works on the “ABCs of dropout prevention.” Armed with training, resources and a high sense of personal dedication, APS graduation coaches collaborate with teachers, school counselors, social workers, registrars and principals to work with students who require intervention. The coaches identify students who may be at risk for falling behind and dropping out based on their attendance, behavior, coursework or lack of course credits.

In recognizing the hard work of APS students, families and employees, school officials are careful to note that the system is still not where it should be in terms of graduating more students on time and well prepared for 21st century college and careers. However, APS is moving in the right direction. To help maintain the momentum, schools that achieved large increases will be studied so that their effective practices can be replicated districtwide.

Atlanta Public Schools Graduation Rate
Name of Entity or School 2012(%) 2013(%)
State of Georgia 69.7 71.5
APS District 50.9 58.6
B.E.S.T. Academy High School n/a n/a
Carver Early College 97.1 98.7
Carver School of the Arts 67.0 73.6
Carver School of Health Sciences and Research 65.9 70.3
Carver School of Technology 67.8 43.2
Crim Open Campus (nontraditional school) 4.2 7.5
Douglass High School 40.5 49.6
Grady High School 78.4 84.6
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate n/a n/a
Maynard H. Jackson, Jr. High School 56.2 55.8
Coretta Scott King H.S. n/a n/a
Mays High School 61.2 69.8
North Atlanta High School 60.6 80.2
South Atlanta School of Computer Animation and Design 60.0 55.0
South Atlanta School of Health and Medical Science 67.4 77.6
South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice 56.0 62.2
Therrell School of Law, Government and Public Policy 38.7 48.9
Therrell School for Technology, Engineering, Math and Science 48.9 55.4
Therrell School of Health Sciences & Research 67.7 46.3
Washington Early College n/a 73.9
Washington School of Banking, Finance & Investment n/a 72.7
Washington School of Health Sciences & Nutrition n/a 51.9
Washington High School Senior Academy (phased out) 60.5 —
West End Academy — —

Explanation

  • Each graduation rate represents the four-year adjusted cohort rate. Since 2011, the U.S. Department of Education has required all 50 states to use a common method – the adjusted cohort rate – to calculate graduation statistics. The rate is defined as the number of students who earn a regular education diploma within four years and a summer divided by the number of students who entered high school four years earlier. The rate includes adjustments for student transfers.
  • A graduation rate is not applicable (n/a) for those schools that do not yet have a senior class.
  • The West End Academy does not have a graduation rate because students who complete a program of study at that school return to their home high school to graduate. The home high school then reports students’ official graduation results.

More Information:

2012 graduation rates

2012 4 Year Cohort Graduation Rate.pdf

2012 4-Year Cohort State and System Graduation Rate.xls

2012 4-Year Cohort School-level Graduation Rate.xls

More Information:

Four-year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate Calculation

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