For years, Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has touted standardized test results as a barometer of success, much like the broader American education system. While the district recently celebrated a milestone — 20 schools named 2023-2024 Math Leaders for exceptional achievement or growth by the Georgia Department of Education — this recognition masks a deeper issue. Even as Georgia’s new K-12 math standards take root, APS students, like their peers nationwide, are still grappling with pandemic-era learning losses that threaten to become permanent gaps. The problem is complacency, as well as policies that prioritize optics over genuine accountability.
Let’s start with the good news. Georgia’s Math Leader awards, tied to Milestones assessments and the rigorous Algebra End-of-Course exam, highlight traditionally lagging schools like Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy and South Atlanta High School for making measurable progress in math proficiency (Midtown feeders Springdale Park Elementary School, Mary Lin Elementary School and David T. Howard Middle School also received this recognition; Midtown did not). These achievements coincide with Georgia’s revamped math standards, designed to foster a “deeper understanding” through age-appropriate content. However, when you dig into the data, cracks begin to emerge.
Nationally, students are regressing in terms of education. Researchers at both Stanford and Harvard found that while some districts rebound, others (particularly those in low-income communities) are sinking deeper into academic deficit. APS mirrors this troubling trend; chronic absenteeism doubled post-pandemic from 15% to 38.4%. The district’s own 2023 Milestones results reveal sobering gaps: just 34.7% of elementary students are proficient in ELA and 22.8% of middle schoolers meet math standards. Even Georgia’s “nation’s report card” scores (part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, colloquially the NAEP) point to a decline in math and reading, with Black, Native American and low-income students amongst the most affected.
APS’s response to these challenges has been uneven to say the least. While districts like Houston and Miami doubled down on tutoring and extended learning time with federal COVID relief funds, APS allocated its $234 million windfall with mixed results. Literacy initiatives such as “Readers are Leaders” and the celebration of Math Leader schools deserve applause, but uncertainty remains about the implication of strategies that would benefit all students.
The trend is incredibly clear in math. According to data organized by the New York Times, APS students were already behind before COVID, but the pandemic pushed them nearly two years behind the national average by 2022. A recent uptick in 2023 suggests partial recovery, but the damage has already been done. Atlanta’s math trajectory—once stable at about a year behind—plummeted during school closures, and without sustained intervention, gaps could persist into high school and beyond.
APS isn’t alone in this struggle. Across Georgia, post-COVID policies have wavered between urgency and leniency. But with achievement gaps widening and $263 billion in federal recovery funds flowing nationally, the stakes are too high for half-measures. While the Math Leader schools demonstrate that progress is possible, systemic fixes—not symbolic gestures—are needed.
Atlanta’s students deserve better than feel-good policies. They deserve a district that pairs high expectations with high support: scaling tutoring, expanding summer programs and ensuring that accountability measures truly prepare students for the challenges ahead. Celebrate the schools that excel at math and reading, but don’t mistake a handful of bright spots for the dawn of a comprehensive recovery. Without true rigor, Atlanta’s progress will remain incomplete, and its students will be unprepared for the futures they deserve.
