Georgia graduation
Where Georgia stands on high school graduation, how it is changing, and the 31 risk factors linked to it.
Current position
Graduation at a glance
Four-year graduation rate
Georgia, all students, classes of 2018 to 2025
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Graduation Rate files. Counts students who started ninth grade together and received a regular diploma within four years.
By student group, class of 2025
Differences between groups should not be read as effects of the group itself; groups also differ in income, school resources, exposure to discipline, and housing stability.
Risk factors
31 risk factors in five groups
Data quality combines validity, reliability and research evidence (Get the Data report, Annex C). Good ●●● Fair ●●○ Weak ●○○ Select a loaded factor's name for its trend and detail.
Student
The student's own experiences, health and progress at school.10 risks7 good · 3 fair
- 20.4%2024-25Good ●●●
- Grades, course failure and credits
Students in grades 9 to 12 who dropped out during the year (stand-in)2.4%2024-25Fair ●●○ - 12.5%2024-25Good ●●●
- Juvenile justice involvement
Youth referred to juvenile court (county)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - 2.4%2024-25Good ●●●
- Mental health
Students reporting depression symptoms (Georgia Student Health Survey)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Substance use
Young people using tobacco, alcohol or drugs (county and state)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Teenage parenthood
Births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 (county)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - 13.5%2024-25Good ●●●
- 12%2024-25Fair ●●○
Attendance
Students chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Attendance files. School years ending as shown. The 2020 figure covers a year cut short by school closures.
By student group, 2024-25
Grades, course failure and credits
Students in grades 9 to 12 who dropped out during the year (stand-in), Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Fair ●●○
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, 9-12 Dropout Rate files. A stand-in. The state does not publish grades, course failures or credits; the dropout rate is the closest published measure of students falling off track.
By student group, 2024-25
Behavior
Students with at least one discipline incident during the year, Georgia, 2014 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS K-12 Student Discipline Dashboard data (DISCIPLINE_SCHOOL_CHARACTERISTICS). District and school figures are published. The statewide figure is the share from summed district counts; the dashboard publishes no statewide row.
Grade retention
Students held back a grade (all grades), Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Retained files. Share of enrolled students retained, from the state's published counts.
Special education
Students with disabilities, share of enrollment, Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Enrollment by Subgroup files.
English learner status
Current English learners, share of enrollment, Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Fair ●●○
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Enrollment by Subgroup files. Counts students currently classified. Students who have reached proficiency leave the group, so this understates how many were ever English learners.
Family
Conditions in the student's home and household.8 risks6 good · 1 fair · 1 weak
- Household income
Children in households below the poverty line (census tract)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Parental education
Parents without a high school diploma (groups of counties)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Family structure and disruption
Children in single-parent households (census tract)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - 46,0702023-24Good ●●●
- Child maltreatment
Substantiated maltreatment per 1,000 children (county)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Foster care
Children in foster care per 1,000 (county)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Parental incarceration
Children with a parent who has been incarcerated (state only)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Parental substance use
Adults reporting excessive drinking (county, stand-in)Not yet loadedWeak ●○○
Homelessness and housing instability
Students identified as homeless (McKinney-Vento count), Georgia, 2024 to 2024 Good ●●●
Source: GaDOE FY24 McKinney-Vento student count (2023-24); federal EDFacts homeless-student files (2017-18 to 2021-22, district level). The statewide figure is the state's own stated total for 2023-24 (46,070; the federal file for the same year reports 44,445). District counts for 2017-18 to 2021-22 come from the federal files; the 2022-23 and 2023-24 federal files refuse automated download and are not yet included. The state's 2023-24 sheet shows a zero for 48 districts with fewer than 15 students.
School
Features of the school a student attends.7 risks4 good · 3 fair
- $14,0262024-25Good ●●●
- School effectiveness and organization
Schools designated "Beating the Odds", share of schools analyzed31.4%2024-25Good ●●● - Climate and connectedness
Students who feel connected to school (Georgia Student Health Survey)Not yet loadedGood ●●● - Teacher turnover
Teachers leaving the district (district spreadsheet last issued for 2017-18)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Peer influence
Students reporting peer support (Georgia Student Health Survey)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Academic tracking and course placement
Students in advanced courses (federal Civil Rights Data Collection)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - 6.3%2024-25Good ●●●
School funding
Spending per full-time-equivalent student, all K-12 expenditure categories, Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS downloadable data, Revenues and Expenditures files. Sum of the eleven published per-student expenditure lines (instruction, pupil services, transportation, administration and others). Not adjusted for inflation.
School effectiveness and organization
Schools designated "Beating the Odds", share of schools analyzed, Georgia, 2018 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS Beating the Odds analysis, per-school designation files. A school beats the odds when its CCRPI score is above the range predicted from its enrollment, poverty, mobility, and other characteristics. By construction about a third of schools statewide are designated each year, so the statewide share barely moves; the district shares are where the information is. No analysis was issued for 2019-20 through 2022-23.
Exclusionary discipline
Students given an out-of-school suspension, share of enrollment, Georgia, 2014 to 2025 Good ●●●
Source: GOEWS K-12 Student Discipline Dashboard data (DISCIPLINE_SCHOOL_CHARACTERISTICS). District and school rates are published. The statewide figure is the enrollment-weighted mean of district rates; it matches the dashboard's published statewide rate (6.3% for 2024-25) when rounded.
Community
Conditions in the neighborhood and local area.4 risks1 good · 3 fair
- Sustained neighborhood disadvantage
Children in high-poverty census tractsNot yet loadedGood ●●● - Neighborhood crime and disorder
Violent crime per 100,000 (county)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Residential mobility
Households that moved in the past year (census tract)Not yet loadedFair ●●○ - Access to health services
Primary care physicians per 100,000 (county)Not yet loadedFair ●●○
Policy
State rules on diplomas and school accountability.2 risks1 fair · 1 no data source
- Exit exams
Exams required for a diplomaNot yet loadedNo data source - 78.02024-25Fair ●●○
Graduation accountability
CCRPI single score (state accountability index, 0 to 100), Georgia, 2023 to 2025 Fair ●●○
Source: GOEWS Georgia School Grades Reports data (schoolgrades_ccrpi_data). No CCRPI scores were issued for 2019-20 through 2021-22. The index combines achievement, progress, closing gaps and readiness; graduation rates feed the high-school readiness component.
Data downloads
Every dataset on this site, one tidy table each: area, school year, student group, value, count, whether the state suppressed the value, and how the figure was obtained (published, or computed from published figures). State and district rows; school-level rows will be added once the files are split by district.
| Dataset | Coverage | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Four-year graduation rate | classes of 2018 to 2025, by student group | CSV (5.1 MB) |
| Five-year graduation rate | classes of 2017 to 2024, by student group (state posts gaps) | CSV (3.3 MB) |
| Attendance: Students chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days) | 2018 to 2025, by student group | CSV (4.5 MB) |
| Grades, course failure and credits: Students in grades 9 to 12 who dropped out during the year (stand-in) | 2018 to 2025, by student group | CSV (4.3 MB) |
| Behavior: Students with at least one discipline incident during the year | 2014 to 2025 | CSV (0.5 MB) |
| Grade retention: Students held back a grade (all grades) | 2018 to 2025 | CSV (0.3 MB) |
| Special education: Students with disabilities, share of enrollment | 2018 to 2025 | CSV (0.3 MB) |
| English learner status: Current English learners, share of enrollment | 2018 to 2025 | CSV (0.3 MB) |
| School funding: Spending per full-time-equivalent student, all K-12 expenditure categories | 2018 to 2025 | CSV (0.3 MB) |
| School effectiveness and organization: Schools designated "Beating the Odds", share of schools analyzed | 2018 to 2025 | CSV (0.2 MB) |
| Exclusionary discipline: Students given an out-of-school suspension, share of enrollment | 2014 to 2025 | CSV (0.4 MB) |
| Homelessness and housing instability: Students identified as homeless (McKinney-Vento count) | 2024 to 2024 | CSV (0.4 MB) |
| Graduation accountability: CCRPI single score (state accountability index, 0 to 100) | 2023 to 2025 | CSV (0.2 MB) |
Methodology
The 31 risk factors and the best Georgia data source for each come from Data needs for a Georgia graduation and risk factors app (Get the Data, LLC, for Georgia Appleseed, October 2026). Risk factors were identified from reviews of the United States research on why students do not graduate; each data source was rated on validity, reliability, how often it is published, and the smallest area it covers.
Data quality marks. Good: high validity, high or medium reliability, and strong or moderate research evidence. Fair: medium validity, or research evidence that is limited, mixed or not rated. Weak: low validity. No data source: no suitable published source was found.
How numbers get here. Each source file is downloaded as published and archived unchanged. A script reads the archived file, keeps the state's suppression marks, and writes the tables above. Where the state publishes counts but not a share (students retained, students with a discipline incident, schools beating the odds), the share is the one count divided by the other. Where the state publishes per-student spending by category, the total is the sum of the categories. Where the state publishes district rows but no statewide row (the discipline dashboard), the statewide figure is summed from the district counts, or enrollment-weighted from the district rates, and labelled as such. The page is rendered from those tables by a script that only renders; no number on this site is generated or estimated by software. The archived files and the verification log are kept with the site's code.
Limitations. The site shows how risk factors and graduation rates vary across the same areas. These links do not show that a risk factor causes lower graduation. County and census-tract data describe where students live, not individual students. The site holds no student-level data.