On Friday we detailed the 2025 Georgia Milestones test results as they applied to East Cobb elementary schools in certain categories, just a sampling of the broader comprehensive data released by the Georgia Department of Education.
In this post we’ll pull out a subject category at the 8th grade level that’s been the subject of some concern—English Language Arts—and the four subject areas in which high school students are evaluated for Milestones.
The Milestones measuring points are vast—there are 20 different assessments are measured at the end of each semester, as well as the end of the school year.
Students are tested in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts, reading and math, in grades 5-8 in those subjects plus science, and all those subjects plus social studies in grade 8. High school students are tested in American Literature, algebra, biology and U.S. history.
Students are categorized in one of four levels, based on those test scores: Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.
The results for the five categories we’ve outlined in the tables at the bottom are mixed. In 8th grade English Language Arts, the mean scores as well as the percentage of students at a school deemed a proficient learner or above were down from 2024.
Among East Cobb middle schools, only Daniell’s percentage was higher than last year, and that was up slightly, to 48 percent. The drop at East Cobb Middle School was stark—from 42.6 at proficient and above last year, to only 30.8 percent in 2025. The decline at Hightower Trail and McCleskey were both at nine percent.
At the Cobb County School District level, there were more encouraging signs in 7th grade ELA, which was up 1.7 percent from last year across the district, and where reading at grade-level improved by 2.6 percentage points.
Eighth-grade social studies is where Cobb students stood out in metro Atlanta, topping students in other districts by eight percentage points.
At the high school level, Cobb students led metro Atlanta area school districts in American Literature, biology, algebra and U.S. History.
But results were mixed among East Cobb high schools. For example, Kell High School had dramatic rises in the percentage of proficient learners in biology in algebra—12- and nine-percent gains, respectively) but fell 12 percent in that category in U.S. History.
Conversely, at Pope High School, the percentage of proficient or above learners in algebra fell from 73.8 to 64.1, but students there did marginally better in biology from 2024 to 2025.
High schools in East Cobb continued to lead the Cobb school district in many of those metrics. But Wheeler was an exception, with a 12-percent drop in alegbra, and nearly eight percent lower in American Literature and Composition and U.S. History. In biology, Wheeler students raised their proficiency levels by two percent.
(The Cobb school district’s release can be found here.)
“For the 10th year in a row, Cobb’s return on the taxpayer’s investment can be seen in this year’s Milestones results,” Cobb school board chairman David Chastain said in a district release.
“Providing parents with some of the highest results, at one of the lowest costs, is something we are committed to. The staff is looking at other opportunities to grow and give parents even more options—I am very sure wewill.”
Here’s the link to the Georgia Milestones dashboard, but a warning: There is a massive amount of information and instructions on how to use it.
Broader state education data, including district- and school-level test results, can be found at this link.
That’s also where we referenced spreadsheets to list school-level results for schools in East Cobb (spring 2025 End of Grade and spring 2025 End of Course) that have been detailed in these two posts.
8th Grade English Language Arts
[wptg_comparison_table id=”66″]
High School American Lit/Composition
[wptg_comparison_table id=”67″]
High School Biology
[wptg_comparison_table id=”68″]
High School Algebra
[wptg_comparison_table id=”69″]
High School U.S. History
[wptg_comparison_table id=”70″]
Related:
- 2025 Milestones test results: East Cobb elementary schools
- Ga. to distribute $6.5M in federal funds to Cobb schools
- Cobb students go back to school: 2025-26 school year begins
- Pope educator named Cobb high school teacher of the year
- Bells Ferry ES reconstruction cost comes to $29.9 million
- Mabry MS student recognized for saving his grandmother
- Editor’s Note: Whither public comments in an age of rage?
- Cobb school board approves holding millage rate for FY 2026
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Did the school district indicate when they intend to share individual student scores with parents? These tests were taken in April and May but have not yet been shared with Cobb parents. Other nearby districts shared scores with parents before summer break.
Our school told us in May to expect them around September. Same as the year before.