(The Center Square) – Georgia students beat its national counterparts on SAT scores, averaging 1029 to the national median of 996, the Department of Education said Tuesday.
The mean score for Georgia’s students was down by one point when compared to 2024, the department said. Fifty-five percent of students in the class of 2025 took the test that some colleges and universities use when deciding admissions. In 2024, 52% took the test.
News of the rise in SAT scores comes a day after the department announced 2025 graduation rates increased to 87.2%, an all-time high. The 2024 graduation rate was 85.4%.
The graduation rates at 60 school districts were more than 95% and 134 districts had rates over 90%, the department said.
“Seeing this increase in a single year is a strong indicator of the work Georgia’s schools and districts are doing to keep students engaged in their education and prepare them for successful lives after high school,” said state Superintendent Richard Woods. “While more work remains to be done, more Georgia students are graduating than ever before – and they’re doing so prepared to pursue futures full of opportunity.”
The four-year graduation rate is calculated by taking the number of students who graduated and dividing it by the adjusted cohort for the graduating class.
The adjusted cohort is decided by taking the number of students who begin at the school in ninth grade, adding transfer students in the three years and subtracting students who transfer.
Georgia’s graduation rate was 67.4% in 2011, a difference of 19.8% when compared to the 2025 numbers.
