TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2026 · Issue No. 42 · 6 min read
Milton test scores, school by school
Biology is a strength. US History is not. And nobody in Georgia has a reading score this year.
Top of Mind
Fulton County put out its Georgia Milestones results last week and the county did well. What the county did not put out is how any single school did, and a district that runs from Milton down through south Fulton can post an average that describes almost nobody.
So we went and got the school-level file the state publishes, and pulled ours. Here is how Milton's two high schools did on last spring's end-of-course tests, against the county and the state. Every figure is the share of students who scored proficient or better.
| Milton | Cambridge | Fulton | Georgia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algebra | 68.7% | 70.0% | 60.6% | 48.1% |
| Biology | 78.5% | 75.9% | 59.8% | 47.3% |
| US History | 43.7% | 57.7% | 45.5% | 38.7% |
| Literature | no scores anywhere in Georgia | |||
Algebra and biology are the story you would hope for. Milton High finished thirty-one points clear of the state in biology, Cambridge is close behind, and both sit well above the county in both subjects.
US History is a different story. Milton High came in at 43.7 percent, below the Fulton County average of 45.5 and fourteen points behind Cambridge. Same district, same year, same test, same building that just cleared the state by thirty-one points in biology.
We are not going to guess at why from a spreadsheet. One year of one test is a data point, not a verdict, and 268 students sat for it. We are asking Fulton County Schools about it and we will print their answer.
Two things to hold alongside that. Northwestern and Hopewell turn up in the algebra file at 97.7 and 99.4 percent, but those are middle schoolers taking a high school course, a self-selected accelerated group, so it is not a whole-school number and we are not going to dress it up as one. And end-of-course means high school. Grades 3 through 8 sit in a separate state file that covers Crabapple Crossing, Birmingham Falls, Summit Hill, and the regular results for Northwestern and Hopewell. We are pulling that one now. It runs Thursday.
For the county picture the district did announce: math proficiency reached 57.5 percent, up 2.5 points; science 55.8; social studies 49.4. "While we are proud of the progress our students have made, we also know there is more work to do," Superintendent Mike Looney said.
Which leaves the subject nobody reported, because there is nothing to report.
Georgia has no reading scores this year. Open the state's own dashboard, set it to third grade English language arts for spring 2026, and you get 122,192 students tested and then three empty boxes where the average, the spread and the achievement levels belong. The children took the test. Nobody has a score. The high school file says the same thing in its own way: Literature and Composition II is blank for all 512 high schools in Georgia, Milton High included.
This one is not Fulton's doing. The state rewrote its ELA content standards, and a rewritten standard has to go through a fresh standard-setting process before any number means anything. The Department of Education says those results "will be available in late fall 2026." So how Milton's kids are reading is a question with a four-month wait on it, for everyone.
Sources: Fulton County Schools and the Georgia Department of Education 2025-26 end-of-course school-level file. Percentages are the share of students scoring Proficient Learner or Distinguished Learner. County and state figures are weighted by the number of students tested.
Around Town
A place to talk, Wednesday night
If someone in your family lives with mental illness, there is a free support group meeting in Milton tomorrow evening.
NAMI Northside Atlanta runs a Family Support Group at Birmingham Methodist Church, 15770 Birmingham Highway, from 6:30 to 8 PM. It is for the family and friends, not for the person with the diagnosis. No registration, no cost. You come when you need to, you say as much or as little as you want, and what is said in the room stays in the room.
The facilitators are trained volunteers who have a family member living with mental illness themselves, which is the whole design of the thing. Groups tend to trade practical information alongside the hard parts: insurance, Social Security and Medicaid, finding a lawyer, getting someone into treatment or housing. The facilitators are careful to say they are not clinicians and that none of this replaces professional care.
It meets the second Wednesday of each month, run in coordination with NAMI Forsyth, Duluth and Lumpkin. Questions go to Marsha Watts at mwalkerw70@gmail.com. Details on our events page.
Best of Milton
Sunday, the envelope opens
Voting closed last night. Twenty-nine categories, more than 3,500 ballots, more than 340 of your neighbors, and not one opinion from us.
A few categories finished close enough that we counted them twice. Winners run in Sunday's issue.
If a business you love is holding its breath right now, that is exactly the right amount of drama. You can see who was on the ballot at readroundabout.com/best-of-milton.
Touring this weekend while you wait on the winners? Every active Milton listing is on our directory, sorted by school zone, neighborhood, or price, and updated nightly.
|
Milton Homes is brought to you by Amber Kuhn · At Home Property Group Our founding Featured Realtor: a proud Milton resident with $80M+ sold since 2018, who knows this town street by street. Meet Amber → |
One tap, no form
School is back. One week in, how is it going?
Locked into the routineStill miss summerThe carline will break meWhat is sleepThe Week Ahead
Tue, Aug 11
5:00 PM · Sustainability Advisory Committee · City Hall (free)
6:30 PM · Trivia Night · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
Wed, Aug 12
6:30 PM · NAMI Family Support Group · Birmingham Methodist Church (free)
Thu, Aug 13
5:30 PM · Monica Scheidt author talk and signing · Poe & Company Bookstore
Fri, Aug 14
6:00 PM · Live music · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
Sat, Aug 15
6:00 PM · Live music with Kenny, Mollie and Sarah · Six Bridges Crabapple (free)
Sun, Aug 16
Best of Milton winners revealed, right here
Mon, Aug 17
6:00 PM · City Council regular meeting · City Hall Council Chambers (free)
The work session set for last night was cancelled, so this is Council's next business.
See the full Milton calendar →
Running something this month? Add it in about a minute and we will put it in front of your neighbors.
One More Thing
Meet Milt
We built you something, and today it is yours to try.
It is called Ask Milt, and it answers questions about Milton the way a well-read neighbor would. Ask him what is happening this weekend. Ask who sits on the city council, what homes are for sale near Milton High, or what actually happened with the Fulton tax order. He answers in plain English, and he shows you where the answer came from every single time.
If he does not know, he says so. Then we go find out. He never guesses, which turns out to be the hard part.
Milt reads exactly three things: our own reporting, our directories, and a fact file we check by hand. Nothing else. That is the point. You can trust the answers because the sources are sitting right underneath them.
You subscribe, so Milt answers you without limits. Use the email this newsletter lands in and he will know you.
One favor. He is brand new. If he gives you a bad answer, or cannot answer something he clearly should, hit reply and tell me. What Milton asks and Milt cannot answer is our assignment desk now.
