Georgia’s State Highlights

Summary of Grades

Georgia scores at the national average in three of the four graded categories of education policy in Quality Counts and above the national average in standards and accountability.

The state has a strong showing for standards and accountability policies, scoring particularly well with indicators related to school accountability. For example, Georgia sanctions and provides assistance to all low-performing schools (not just those that receive federal Title I funds), and also provides rewards to high-performing or improving schools.

Georgia’s efforts in teacher quality match the national average. There is room for improvement in the area of teacher education and qualifications. For instance, the state does not require a minimum number of weeks for student teaching or a minimum number of hours for other clinical experiences during teacher training.

In the school climate category, Georgia’s score is at the national average. The state excels on class-size indicators, receiving full credit in this area. It has implemented a class-size-reduction program and includes class-size information on school report cards.

The state also scores close to the national average in resource equity. Among the three indicators in this category, Georgia fares the best on the coefficient-of-variation measure, indicating a lower-than average level of disparity in funding levels across districts in the state.

Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.