Peach State Education Coverage, Driven by Data
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The gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged chronic absence rates has widened 50% since the pandemic, with 316,000 students chronically absent.
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.
Georgia's income graduation gap fell from 15.3 to 3.5 points since 2011. But 88 districts now classify every senior as disadvantaged.
A statewide online school run by ACCEL Schools nearly doubled Jenkins County enrollment and pushed its chronic absenteeism from 25% to 45%.
Atlanta Public Schools posted a 90.5% graduation rate in 2025, up from 52% in 2011. The district that was rocked by a cheating scandal now outpaces the state.
In 2011, white students graduated at 75.5% and Black students at 59.8%. By 2025, the gap had narrowed to 2.8 percentage points, one of the smallest in the nation.
Georgia's largest district went from 9.4% to 18.4% chronically absent since the pandemic, adding 18,000 students to the missing rolls despite $19M in new mental health funding.
Georgia's graduation rate climbed 19.8 points since 2011, matching the national average. The Class of 2025 produced 35,520 more graduates.
Before COVID, Georgia's Black-white chronic absenteeism gap was 2.9 points. Six years later it has ballooned to 7.5 points, still widening.
