Atlanta Public Schools (APS) achieved an 86.6 percent graduation rate for cohort 2023, according to the Georgia Department of Education, which officially released graduation rates for the Class of 2023 today. 

This marks the highest all-time graduation rate for the district and the first time the district has surpassed the state’s graduation rate of 84.4% by 2.2 percentage points.

“I am incredibly proud of the graduating Class of 2023,” said APS Interim Superintendent Dr. Danielle Battle. “We are simply elated to celebrate another historic accomplishment! Our students and staff have worked extremely hard to increase our graduation rate and for our results to surpass the state average is truly a testament to the tremendous efforts of everyone in Atlanta Public Schools. We plan to continue building on this momentum by amplifying the work we’re currently doing.”

Here are more details:

By achieving its all-time high graduation rate, APS has exceeded the state graduation rate of 84.4% by 2.2 percentage points. This is the first time that APS has exceeded the state graduation rate. 

A total of 2,812 students graduated on-time from APS in 2023. The percentage of students who graduated in 2023 is higher than any other year since 2012, when the state adopted the cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This is an increase of 121 graduates from 2022. The 2023 cohort included 3,247 students, 44 larger than the 2022 cohort. See Figure 1. 

Of the 16 schools with graduating classes, 11 achieved percentage-point gains compared to 2022. The largest increase from a traditional high school was Douglass High School, which achieved a 7.2-percentage-point gain. Other traditional schools achieving gains include Mays (+5.7), Midtown (+4.9), North Atlanta (+4.5), Atlanta Classical (+3.9), South Atlanta (+3.3), Carver STEAM (+2.1), Carver Early (+1.4), KIPP Collegiate (+0.9), Jackson High School (+0.4). See Figure 2. 

In addition, eight schools had graduation rates greater than 90 percent: Atlanta Classical Academy (100%), Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy (100%), Drew Secondary (98.4%), North Atlanta (94.2%), BEST (93.8%), Carver Early (93.1%), KIPP Collegiate (93.0%), and Midtown (91.3%).

Among other results from the latest graduation rates:

• Graduation rates for Black students (84.7%) reached an all-time high with the 2023 cohort, while the rate for Hispanic students (82.3%) and White students (96.7%) were higher than the cohort 2022 rates. See Figure 3. 

• Nearly 12 percentage points separated the graduation rates of Black students and White students. This is one percentage point lower than the cohort 2022 difference.

• Graduation rates for students with disabilities (76.2%) reached an all-time high with a four-percentage point increase over 2022. 

• The 2023 graduation rate for English learners (65.7%) was lower than the 2022 graduation rate of 76.1%, a difference of 10.4 percentage points.

• Graduation rates for Economically Disadvantaged students (82.8%) reached an all-time high with a 2.5 percentage point increase over 2022.

Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate

Georgia has calculated an adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal law since 2012, and this calculation has not changed over this period. APS only reports the official state graduation rate. The four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate is the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. From the beginning of ninth grade, students who are entering that grade for the first time form a cohort that is subsequently “adjusted” by adding any students who transfer into the cohort during the next four years and subtracting any students who transfer out. Students who drop-out remain in a four-year adjusted cohort.