The Atlanta Public School Board of Education revealed a new 5-year plan focused on improving literacy, mathematics and preparing students for college and careers. By 2030, the district hopes to increase the scores by 20 percentage points.
In order to track progress toward the 2030 goal, the district has outlined a detailed list of actions.
The actions include the first semester and second semester outlining everything that will be completed throughout the school year.
These Key Performance Indicators will serve as a monthly guide, helping board members evaluate whether the district is staying on track and watch over grade proficiency and College and career readiness. In addition to KPIs, the district will also rely on a set of high-impact strategies known as the “Big Bets” to help prioritize and focus its efforts.
“We need to know how we’re monitoring progress and what specific strategies are being used to accomplish the goals we’ve set in our priority areas of focus,” Howard said. “Reporting on objective data is key, and it needs to be more focused on showing what students know and are able to do than what adults are doing, while recognizing that the efforts and work of adults absolutely impact the outputs of students.”
The district’s Big Bets are designed to make transformative commitments to equity and excellence across all grade levels. A major focus will be on improving early learning opportunities for pre-kindergarten students, ensuring every child begins school ready to learn. In hopes for literacy, math and social-emotional growth, early learning for pre-kindergarden will be better to access.
“APS has made large investments in our teachers’ salaries, and we must continue to remain competitive,” said Seth Coleman, Director of the APS Media Office. “Our goal is to have an average teacher salary of $100,000 by 2030. Currently, we have increased that average to $90,908 and are on track to meeting our 2030 goal.”
Reflecting Howard’s sentiments, APS implemented the largest teacher pay increase in district history in the 2024-25 school year. Biology teacher Latrice Woods believes the prioritization of teacher salaries will attract more qualified educators to APS.
“When I started teaching, I didn’t get nearly as much as what I make now,” Woods said. “Over the 19 years I have been teaching, I have seen small raises, but nothing like this. A $100 thousand average salary will bring more educators and most likely change the environment around us. I think this increase shows Atlanta that educators are needed and are valued.”
The plan also includes improvements to personalized support to aid students who need additional help both academically and socially.
A family resource center will be focused on as well to meet families’ unique needs. This supports the students and their households.
“A specific strategy related to college and career readiness is the implementation of Individual College & Career Plans for all 8th graders, embedding them in the advice process for students and families,” Coleman said.
APS organizes its work to follow the six core pillars which include strengthening the instructional core, caring for every child, sparking student curiosity, staff strength, family engagement and making the system efficient and effective. These pillars aim to ensure every facility investment supports impactful programming, reduces waste and creates an environment for students to succeed.
“When I looked over the six core pillars, I was impressed at the organization and how thoughtfully they were structured,” Woods said. “I hope that as we get further into the school year and closer to 2030, we can see the improvements clearly. Family engagement particularly stands out to me. When parents are involved and invested, it makes a real difference in a child’s education and overall growth.”
Howard said while the district is working on making the learning environment a better place for kids, monthly planning at APS involves navigating factors such as funding and infrastructure.
“Our current budget situation certainly does not help us do the work better for students, which is why we’ve taken on Facilities Master Planning to the extent we have,” Howard said. “We have to restructure our system so we can put more impactful programmatic offerings and support. Not things that don’t have the most impact on student outcomes, or things that are an inefficient use of resources, which includes heating, cooling and maintaining too much under-utilized school building space.”
