By Logan Dubel, Local 3 News

As students across the Tennessee Valley return to the classroom, data from the 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book shows an increasing gap between students in the Volunteer and Peach States.

The report, compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has measured overall child well-being since 1990. This year, Tennessee ranked 18th in education, while Georgia came in at 32nd.

The ranking relies on the following metrics, by percentage: young children (ages three and four) not in school, fourth graders not proficient in reading, eighth graders not proficient in math and high school students not graduating on time.

“Tennessee has definitely improved over the years, and in this year’s KIDS COUNT data book, we had the second-highest score improvement from the previous year,” said Robin Yeh, policy director at the Sycamore Institute, which helps maintain data used to compile the annual report. “According to their calculations, we’re almost back to those pre-pandemic levels related to our education levels, which I think is really positive progress.”

In addition to the ranking, the KIDS COUNT index now shows scores for how states are moving individually.

The study also includes rankings in economic well-being, health as well as family and community. For overall child well-being, Tennessee ranks 37th and Georgia ranks 39th.

“Rankings are always relative, and they all depend on the underlying indicators,” Yeh emphasized.

The significant gap between Tennessee and Georgia’s ranking in education only became apparent post-pandemic. In the 2019 report, the states ranked back-to-back, with Tennessee and Georgia at 33 and 34 for education, respectively.

“We do find ourselves kind of on a plateau,” said Jacquan Jordan, data manager at the Georgia Family Connection Partnership. “We know that fourth grade literacy has been tied or been found to tie to high school graduation rates [and] post-secondary education success. We’ve also seen how that’s going to affect vocational success as an adult… It’s pretty evident in our data. We’ve had a post-pandemic slide in all of our education data.”

Still, the indicators behind the ranking show significant work remains in both states, with minimal differences between reading and math proficiency in both states.

“We can no longer apply the same treatments, solutions and remedies that we were doing pre-pandemic, and expect to have similar result similar results post-pandemic,” Jordan said.

He points to successful efforts in Mississippi, where the KIDS COUNT ranking in education jumped from a dismal 44 in 2019, to 16 in 2026. Jordan noted Mississippi’s emphasis on phonics, or matching letters with sounds, rather than memorization or guessing with the help of common, sight words.

What’s Behind Tennessee’s Rise

In response to the rankings, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Education pointed to stronger performance in state assessments.

“Tennessee is proud of the continued progress our students, educators, school leaders and districts are making statewide,” a department spokesperson said by email. “Our state assessment results continue to show strong academic growth, with third-grade student achievement reaching its highest level since at least 2017 in English Language Arts (ELA) and fourth graders also making substantial proficiency gains in mathematics. Tennessee was recently recognized as a national leader in academic recovery by the Education Scorecard, ranking second in the nation in math recovery and fourth in reading recovery.”

There is some encouraging news in Rhea County, where the national Education Scorecard identified the district as one on the rise in math, for the 2024-2025 school year.

As Cleveland City Schools students returned to class last week, Dr. Jeff Elliott, the director of schools, pointed to phonemic awareness as a reason behind the growth. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and identify sounds in spoken words, whereas phonics links those sounds with written letters and words.

Georgia’s Efforts to Boost Literacy

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the Early Literacy Act earlier this year, providing funding for literacy coaches in elementary schools serving more than 200 students, focusing on children in kindergarten through third grade.

Leading up to the first day of classes, many Northwest Georgia school leaders said the law helps them continue efforts they had already begun.

“The funding that we received — it worked out to a little bit over two full teachers, but we were already paying for locally for a literacy coach in every single elementary school, so this is something that’s not new for us,” said Dr. Steven Craft, superintendent of Dalton Public Schools. “It really doesn’t change anything for us because we were already locally paying for the six, and now we’re just getting reimbursed for a little bit over two of the positions.”

Superintendent Damon Raines of Walker County Schools said the funding won’t cover a coach in every school, as prescribed by the law, however, they will place coaches in schools with the highest need.

In Whitfield County, there are 13 coaches for 13 elementary schools. Superintendent Mike Ewton said the district had almost finished hiring teachers for those positions, leading up to the start of the school year.

Catoosa County Schools have also hired five coaches but would’ve liked to place coaches in all 10 elementary schools.

“The State of Georgia allocated $541,038 for ten literacy coaches, one for each of our elementary schools,” a spokesperson said. “However, after the State’s Local 5-Mill Share deduction is applied, CCPS will actually receive $460,292 in FY27. Because fully funding ten experienced, benefit-supported coaches costs roughly $1,000,000, hiring ten full-time coaches would require nearly $540,000 in additional local taxpayer funds.”

Instead, the district spokesperson said the five coaches will be paired with a district-level literacy specialist, and together, they will work to ensure no school is left behind.

The Catoosa County Board of Commissioners approved a budget last week with an increased recommended millage rate for Catoosa County Public Schools. The superintendent and school board members have raised concerns about a shortfall over the past month.

“Literacy is the foundation for all learning,” said Superintendent Chance Nix. “I am pleased Governor Kemp and the General Assembly are prioritizing literacy support in elementary schools. However, bridging the gap between the funds we receive from the state and the actual cost to employ these coaches creates a financial challenge for our local fund budget.”

Nonetheless, all district leaders said they hoped the coaches will help boost numbers this school year and beyond.

Read the story on local3news.com.