ATLANTA,None — Nearly 100,000 Georgia students are graduating from high school this month, and now Channel 2 Action News has obtained a document that shows how high school students perform when they reach the college level.
Channel 2's Richard Belcher got access to a state database that tracks how students at private and public schools perform when they enter the University of Georgia system.
The data Belcher analyzed only looks at high school graduates who enter one of the colleges of the state system. That includes schools such as Georgia Southern, Albany State, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.
PDF: Public School Graduates College GPA PDF: Private School Graduates College GPA
Laura Higgason is graduating from McIntosh High School in Fayette County this weekend with a 3.97 GPA. McIntosh is only one of eight public high schools where graduates have a 2.9 GPA or better in the university system.
Seven of the eight schools are metro Atlanta schools: McIntosh and Starr's Mill in Fayette County, Riverwood and Chattahoochee in Fulton County, George Walton and Harrison in Cobb County and Lakeside in DeKalb County.
"Everybody has their expectations of what it's going to be like, but I know for myself, I'm probably going to get there and be very surprised." Higgason told Belcher.
The top college GPAs come from students who attended high school in Fayette and Cobb counties, followed by Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett and Hall counties.
The lowest GPAs from metro Atlanta schools were reported for students who graduated from DeKalb and Clayton counties and the city of Atlanta.
McIntosh High School Principal Lisa Fine said getting a shock in the early days of college is expected as they deal with larger class sizes and time management.
"There are some students who have to overcome some obstacles in their first semester at college and hopefully we have equipped them with the skills to bounce back," Fine said.
The data given to Belcher did not include statistics for Georgia students who entered private colleges or colleges out of state.
WSBTV
