Georgia Schools

    Nearly 100 of Georgia’s schools had their No Child Left Behind “Needs Improvement” label removed after the 2005-06 evaluations. This despite implementing new, more rigorous curriculum, which made the Adequate Yearly Progress tests harder to pass. Only 310 of Georgia’s more than 1,850 schools were marked as “Needs Improvement” in the 2005-06 school year. For the number of schools that still need improvement, or information on a specific school, visit http://www.doe.k12.ga.us.

Georgia is also seeing a marked rise in the number of students participating in the ACT tests. Since 2003, the number has raised by more than 7,000, and the test results have improved as well. The state ACT average is 20.2 out of a possible 36.

Georgia recently submitted its public school curriculum, “Georgia Performance Standards” to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which rates school curriculum in K-12 education, pushing for education reform. The state’s curriculum for the 2006-07 school year ranked fifth in the country. The report gave Georgia’s proposed curriculum a B+ total, up from a C- in 2000. The highest marks were given in History and World Geography. The highest improvement came in the Science curriculum, which jumped from an F in 2000 to a B in 2006.

This change in curriculum may help boost Georgia’s Smartest State Ranking higher from its current position of 40 out of 50 from the 2005-06 school year.