Georgia's Best School Districts 2020: New Rankings Released

GEORGIA — Data compiler Niche has ranked Georgia's best school districts for the 2019-2020 school year. The rankings were released Monday as part of the website's 2020 K-12 rankings.

Each Georgia school district received a letter grade in the following categories: Academics; Diversity; Teachers; College Prep; Clubs & Activities; Health & Safety; Administration; Sports; Food; and Resources & Facilities.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data, and ratings collected from Niche users. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

The top-ranked school district in Georgia is Buford City Schools. Niche gave the school system an A or an A+ in every category. Last year, Buford was also No. 1. (See last year's list as a comparison: Georgia's Best School Districts: New Rankings Released)

Here the top 75 from the list of top school districts in Georgia as ranked by Niche.com:

1. Buford City Schools
2. Oconee County Schools
3. Forsyth County Schools
4. Decatur City Schools
5. Jefferson City Schools
6. Fayette County Public Schools
7. Carrollton City Schools
8. Bremen City Schools
9. Calhoun City Schools
10. Cartersville City Schools
11. Camden County Schools
12. Pierce County Schools
13. Union County Schools
14. Cherokee County Schools
15. Monroe County Schools
16. Cobb County Schools
17. Trion City Schools
18. Bleckley County Schools
19. Houston County Schools
20. Madison County Schools
21. Gwinnett County Public Schools
22. Rabun County Schools
23. Morgan County Schools
24. Columbia County Schools
25. Heard County Schools
26. Georgia Academy for the Blind
27. Harris County Schools
28. Lowndes County Schools
29. Habersham County Schools
30. Fulton County Schools
31. Rome City Schools
32. Schley County Schools
33. Commerce City Schools
34. Ware County Schools
35. Lee County Schools
36. Dawson County Schools
37. Coweta County Schools
38. Hall County Schools
39. Catoosa County Schools
40. White County Schools
41. Marietta City Schools
42. Fannin County Schools
43. Glynn County Schools
44. Vidalia City Schools
45. Chickamauga City Schools
46. Gordon County Schools
47. Lincoln County Schools
48. Social Circle City Schools
49. Carroll County Schools
50. Walton County Schools
51. Effingham County Schools
52. Candler County Schools
53. Walker County Schools
54. Appling County Schools
55. Bryan County Schools
56. Floyd County Schools
57. Jackson County Schools
58. Bulloch County Schools
59. Whitfield County Schools
60. Dalton City Schools
61. Marion County Schools
62. Barrow County Schools
63. Jeff Davis County Schools
64. Towns County Schools
65. Mitchell County Schools
66. Irwin County Schools
67. Jones County Schools
68. Lumpkin County Schools
69. Tift County Schools
70. Bartow County Schools
71. Dodge County Schools
72. Hart County Schools
73. Muscogee County Schools
74. Coffee County Schools
75. Putnam County Schools

Niche looked at more than 94,000 public schools, 4,100 private schools and nearly 11,000 school districts across the country. The rankings are meant to help parents and students find schools that best fit their needs.

“Unlike traditional school rankings, which rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance, Niche’s rankings provide a real-life view of what it’s like to attend a given school,” the company said in a news release.

Comments from current students, alumni, and parents are included in the analysis, as well as observations about things like campus life, extracurricular activities, sports options, diversity, and programs for gifted and special needs students.

“Parents and students need more than test-score data,” Luke Skurman, CEO at Niche, said in the news release. “They need to understand what it’s really like to attend a school before they start the application or registration process.”