For the ninth year in a row, Georgia's public-school students significantly outperformed their counterparts in the nation's public schools on the SAT, and their average scores rose even as participation increased.

Specifically, Georgia's class of 2026 recorded a mean score of 1031, 20 points higher than the national mean for public-school students of 1011. Georgia students' mean score increased by two points, up from 1029 in 2025. 

"I am extremely proud of Georgia's class of 2026 for becoming the ninth in a row to beat the national average for public school students on the SAT," State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. "We have worked hard to improve both outcomes and opportunities for all Georgia students, while maintaining a strong focus on kids, classrooms, and common sense. While our work is far from finished, we can see the results of that work at play here — as Georgia's public-school students, despite taking the SAT at much higher rates than their counterparts in many other states, continue to beat the national average by significant percentages." 

Georgia's public-school class of 2026 recorded a mean score of 525 on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ERW) portion of the assessment and a mean score of 506 on the math portion. That's compared to averages of 515 and 496, respectively, for students in the nation's public schools. Georgia public-school students' math score increased by four points compared to the class of 2025, whereas the ERW score decreased by a single point. While increased participation sometimes causes downward pressure on scores, Georgia students' mean composite score increased this year despite an increase in participation. A total of 59% of Georgia's class of 2026 took the SAT at some point during high school, compared to 55% of the class of 2025 and 52% of the class of 2024.