demographics
Georgia's English Learners Show Up More Than Their Peers
Georgia's English learners post lower chronic absenteeism than the state average, bucking a national trend. But the advantage is shrinking fast.
Georgia
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Georgia, grounded in Georgia Department of Education data.
Georgia's New Attendance Law Covers Nine in Ten Districts
SB 123 bans absence-only expulsions and mandates intervention teams, but 199 of 231 districts already exceed the 10% chronic absenteeism threshold that triggers the law.
DeKalb Tops 80% but Remains Last Among Metro Atlanta Peers
DeKalb County graduated 81.6% of its Class of 2025, crossing 80% for the first time. But nine superintendents in 15 years left it trailing every metro peer.
Bibb County Cut Chronic Absenteeism 24 Points
Macon's school district had more than half its students chronically absent in 2021. Four years of sustained improvement made it Georgia's top recovery story.
Foster Care Graduates at Half the State Rate
Georgia's foster care students graduate at 50.1%, 37 points below the state average and the lowest of any subgroup. Homeless youth face a similar gap.
More Coverage
district-spotlight
Gwinnett's White-Black Graduation Gap Falls to 1.5 Points
Georgia's largest district improved from 67.6% to 85.4% over 14 years while its cohort grew by 3,320 students and became majority-minority.
chronic-absenteeism
Girls Now Miss More School Than Boys in Georgia
A longstanding pattern reversed in 2022: Georgia girls now have marginally higher chronic absenteeism than boys, and the gap has not closed.
special-populations
One in Four: Special Education's Attendance Crisis
A quarter of Georgia's special education students are chronically absent, a gap that predates the pandemic and has barely moved in eight years.
achievement-gap
Georgia's Special Ed Graduation Rate Has More Than Doubled
Georgia's special ed graduation rate rose from 29.8% to 78.4% in 14 years, the largest gain of any subgroup. The gap to peers shrank from 42 to 10 points.
district-spotlight
Crawford County Graduated 42% of Its Students. Now It Graduates 93%.
Crawford County posted a 50.7-point graduation rate gain since 2011, the second-largest in Georgia, one of 15 districts rising from below 60% to above 90%.
demographics
Georgia's Hispanic Cohort Doubled. The Rate Still Climbed 25 Points.
Georgia's Hispanic graduating class grew from 11,654 to 27,276 in 14 years while the graduation rate rose from 57.6% to 82.3%, producing 15,739 additional diplomas per year.
charter-schools
Georgia Cyber Academy Has Not Had a Good Year in Seven
Georgia's largest virtual charter has seen chronic absenteeism rise every year since 2019, reaching 17.2% even as the state's rate fell.
graduation-rate
76 Georgia Districts Hit All-Time Highs
In 2025, 76 Georgia districts recorded their best-ever graduation rates while zero hit all-time lows, an unprecedented concentration of success across the state.
equity
Nearly Three in Four Georgia Students Are Economically Disadvantaged. Their Absence Rate Is Double.
The gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged chronic absence rates has widened 50% since the pandemic, with 316,000 students chronically absent.
chronic-absenteeism
Forsyth County Held Good Attendance While Georgia Slipped 13 Points
Forsyth County held good attendance near the top as Georgia's statewide rate slipped 13 points since 2019. The 'middle missing' is the fastest-growing group.
