Benjamin E. Mays High School
Atlanta · GA · Atlanta Public Schools · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Frederick Douglass High School → D. M. Therrell High School → Lithia Springs Comprehensive High School → Tri-Cities High School → Maynard Jackson High School → Kipp Atlanta Collegiate Charter School → North Clayton High School → Midtown High School →📋 At a glance
- 📚 3 AP courses offered — Strong
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🎓 AP rigor: 59th percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 59th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 78% (Bottom 26% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Benjamin E. Mays High School compares for families
Solid mid-tier academic profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 59th percentile nationally with 3 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyGA sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Frederick Douglass High School, D. M. Therrell High School, Lithia Springs Comprehensive High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses
59th percentile nationally
✅ Gifted/talented program
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-2159th percentile by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
Bottom 26% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
🏛️ Federal Title I context
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
🏛️ Your state's public flagship
University of Georgia
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $13,936/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
💰 Pay for college in Georgia
Georgia's public scholarships
Georgia's lottery-funded HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships are pure merit — no income limit. GPAs are recalculated by the state (GSFC) on core academic courses only.
Covers a set share of public-college tuition for Georgia grads with a 3.0+ core GPA — no test score or income limit. (Requires 4 rigor credits; maintain a 3.0 in college.)
Official program details ↗Top tier: full public-college tuition for a 3.7 GPA plus a single-sitting SAT 1200 / ACT 25. Named valedictorians and salutatorians qualify at a 3.0 with no test. (The 3.0 val/sal path needs no test score; 3.3 is the separate in-college maintenance GPA.)
Official program details ↗Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.
📝 Georgia Milestones & Graduation
How students score on Georgia's End-of-Course tests.
Georgia Milestones are the state's End-of-Course exams. Below: the share of students reaching Proficient Learner or above — Georgia's college- and career-ready benchmark — on each core high-school subject, plus the 4-year graduation rate.
What does "Proficient or above" mean? →
Georgia Milestones reports four levels: Beginning, Developing, Proficient, and Distinguished Learner. "Proficient or above" combines the top two — students who have demonstrated the knowledge and skills for the next grade or course and are on track for college and career. Georgia's cut scores are rigorous, so statewide proficiency rates often sit below those of other states even for strong schools. Exams are taken at the end of the course.
Source: Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), Georgia Milestones EOC & 4-year cohort graduation rate, 2024-25, All Students. Small-group results are masked for privacy.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +1.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,338 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $22,105 per student in district revenue, the 126 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $2,785,230/year in additional funding.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick Douglass High School Atlanta |
Public | 2.8 | 1,296 | +9.6% |
| D. M. Therrell High School Atlanta |
Public | 2.5 | 964 | -3.9% |
| Lithia Springs Comprehensive High School Lithia Springs |
Public | 9.0 | 1,460 | -5.6% |
| Tri-Cities High School East Point |
Public | 5.1 | 1,748 | +16.6% |
| Maynard Jackson High School Atlanta |
Public | 8.2 | 1,549 | +3.7% |
| Kipp Atlanta Collegiate Charter School Atlanta |
Public · charter | 3.4 | 874 | +8.8% |
| North Clayton High School College Park |
Public | 9.4 | 1,124 | -8.9% |
| Midtown High School Atlanta |
Public | 8.3 | 1,696 | +9.8% |