Georgia’s high school graduation rate has improved for the fourth year in a row, reaching another historic high.
The Class of 2025 in Georgia earned an 87.2 percent graduation rate — a 1.8-point increase over last year and a 6.4-point jump compared to 10 years ago.
Brantley County’s Class of 2025’s graduation rate was 86.8 percent. The class had 177 graduates. Neighboring Pierce County was at 95.9% (236 grads) while Ware County’s rate was 95.4% (370 grads).
Statewide, Woods credited the hard work of teachers and an investment in career and technical education with helping to improve the rate.
“Giving students a reason to come to school is vital,” he said.
About two dozen schools statewide had 100% graduation rates. The rate increased among all racial subgroups, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students and English learners.
The graduation rate is calculated by dividing the number of students who earn a regular high school diploma by the number of students in the “adjusted cohort” for the graduating class.
That cohort comprises all the students who entered a Georgia high school as freshmen four years prior, minus those who transferred out, plus those who transferred in.
Georgia saw a 0.1-point decrease in its graduation rate in 2021, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, the state has steadily improved its rate since the current calculation went into effect in 2011.
High school graduation rates have risen nationwide in recent years. The increase, though, is in contrast to recent data that suggests many high school seniors are struggling academically.
Federal National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “the nation’s report card,” showed just 22% of 12th graders last year performed at or above NAEP proficient in math, and 35% of those students performed at or above NAEP proficient in reading, a decline from the class of 2019. The data was released earlier this month.
