Amid a deluge of bad news from the assessment known as the Nation’s Report Card, Atlanta’s schools offered something of a bright spot. The city can make a claim that no other big-city school system, nor the nation as a whole, can make about its performance on the 2024 national test: that its students improved in 4th grade reading.
The 50,000-student district’s average 4th grade reading score increased by seven points from 2022, when the last test was administered, with gains among both the highest and lowest performers. The city is now just two points shy of its last pre-pandemic average score and four points above the average for big-city districts.
Superintendent Bryan Johnson and his cabinet credit the success to interventions implemented in the immediate aftermath of widespread school closures during the pandemic.
The most influential intervention, Chief of Schools Tommy Usher said, was likely adding 30 minutes to elementary schools’ daily schedule to make time for more instruction, though he said it likely wouldn’t have been as successful without other measures, like an increased focus on summer school and a shift in reading curriculum.
While a sample of students in each state take the NAEP every other year, a number of the nation’s largest districts voluntarily participate in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) and have their results reported separately. Last year, 26 large districts participated. Aside from TUDA districts, there are no individual, district-by-district NAEP results.
In reading, the bulk of the big districts recorded no significant change last year from their 2022 scores among either 4th or 8th graders. On average, America’s students performed worse in 2024 than in 2022 on the NAEP reading exam in both 4th and 8th grades, a disappointing showing for a nation that’s invested billions in pandemic recovery efforts.
Even with the one-of-a-kind improvement in reading scores, Atlanta’s 4th graders lag behind national averages, as do the district’s 8th graders—who recorded no significant change from 2022 to 2024—a sign that while catchup efforts are working, there’s much work still to do.
Johnson and Usher spoke with Education Week about how Atlanta has found success with elementary readers, what the city’s schools need to continue that work, and their hopes for Atlanta’s students in the future. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s the secret? How are you finding success when so many districts are struggling to even hold steady, particularly in reading?
Usher: There are a couple of things that I think about from that time period, the first and most notable being the extension of the school day by about 30 minutes at the elementary level. We did that so we could implement interventions in the areas of reading and mathematics across the district.
Our academic team at that time identified specific instructional resources that we implemented consistently during that extra time across the entire organization, all of our elementary schools. So, in reading for example, we implemented HMH resources and targeted lessons to really home in on where there were needs, and had 30 minutes per day, three days a week for literacy, and a similar approach twice per week in mathematics.
On top of that, we had a summer program that we called Academic Recovery Academies—ARA—for all of our students who continue to struggle to demonstrate proficiency. So, we designed that whole summer experience around those students, identified additional resources to meet the needs of those students, and continue their learning and try to close those gaps during a time when they otherwise wouldn’t have been engaging in academics. That was four hours, five days per week in June, and more than 8,000 students participated in 2024.
We gave our teachers professional learning around the curriculum and resources we used, and also about how to use data to support the individual students as they designed their lessons over the summer.
While all of this was happening, we also adopted and implemented a systematic, explicit phonemic awareness program that we use across the district.
How did you get buy-in to the summer program, since that wasn’t mandatory?
Usher: The morning was dedicated to proficiency, and the afternoon was what we refer to as “power up,” which was an opportunity for students to engage in STEM hands-on activities. Kids were able to do things like dance and arts and other things that were of interest to them and attract them to come to school.
We were also offering incentives—including an end-of-summer celebration with skating, bowling, gaming, and a live music concert—for families to make sure that kids were in school on time, every day, during that summer school.
So, there was a purpose and intention to work on students’ proficiency, but there was an element to draw them in and keep them meaningfully engaged.
Districts across the country implemented at least some of the same initiatives and didn’t see the same positive results. What set Atlanta apart?
Usher: There was a communication strategy around all of these efforts so that families and community members were aware that we were focusing on literacy and that we needed to get our kids in school every day, as much as possible, so that they could take advantage of the resources and opportunities. There was intentional, consistent communication about what we were doing and why. This included information in weekly districtwide newsletters, social media posts, direct messages to families, yard signs, and media coverage.
Johnson: That was also combined with the school board’s understanding and engagement, and willingness to then step back and to allow experts to go mobilize and to do good on behalf of children.
How are you feeling about your NAEP reading results? Are you satisfied with them?
Johnson: It’s encouraging and it definitely creates an element of hope and belief that if you stick to things that are doing well, that you can see and experience the results.
But when you ask about satisfaction, I would say unequivocally no, there’s not a sense of satisfaction.
We see literacy as a civil right. It’s the strongest predictor of a child’s future earning potential and success. So until we get to a place that we have really significantly increased our literacy rates—until we’ve got every child where they’re literate and we’ve closed those gaps—we won’t be satisfied.
We see it as, really, the most important work that we can be doing.
What does your district need to gain momentum and progress toward that goal?
Johnson: There needs to be an increased focus and continued support of as much early learning work as we possibly can. The more prepared students are when they enter, the more likely they are to experience success.
Obviously, we’ve doubled down as a district in the science of reading, and we will continue to offer professional development and support to our teachers in that regard. We think it is a critical component to our literacy goals and for students to continue to learn and grow.
The last thing I would say is a continued focus on community engagement and support, which has been important to our achievements so far. We cannot do it alone. We know that our students spend so much time outside of our classrooms and schools, so every opportunity we get to work with community partners and families to influence what’s taking place and to position students to be more successful, we 100 percent want to lean into that.
What do you want people to know about literacy instruction?
Johnson: People ask if teaching literacy is rocket science, and I think that there is a rocket science element to it. It’s complex and it’s not an overnight type of thing. So, yes, it is encouraging to see progress because I know districts are working really hard. Teachers are working really hard in the midst of an always changing environment.
