DeKalb County School District:
Comprehensive Access & Opportunity Audit
Presentation to Board of Education
August 2025
Audit Framework
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
What is Educational Access & Opportunity?
Educational Access & Opportunity (A&O) means ensuring all students have the resources, support, and
pathways they need to succeed and reach their full potential, regardless of their background or circumstances.
Educational A&O is…. Educational A&O is not…
• Removing necessary resources from students
• Providing each student with individualized resources
• Lowering expectations
• Providing all necessary support to meet desired
• Reducing academic rigor
expectations
• Engaging in segregation or providing any
• Demanding academic rigor and necessary resources
programming that allows one race but not another or
• Providing each student with the opportunity to receive
otherwise separates students, faculty, or staff based
the full benefits of education
on race
What is an Access & Opportunity audit?
An access and opportunity audit is a study of an institution’s policies, programs,
and practices, in pursuit of educational access and opportunity for all students.
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Background on Revisions
• Following PCG’s May 12th Presentation to the Board of Education, Board Members posed important
questions that led PCG to revisit the data and identify an error in the assignment of schools to board
districts.
• Through additional quality control processes, PCG and DCSD also identified errors in the school building
age data and quantitative student data report used in the original analysis.
• In the process of conducting revisions, PCG updated the methodology for:
• calculating economically disadvantaged data.
• visualizing AP courses offered.
• PCG has revised their full audit report and has summarized the revisions in this presentation. Quantitative
revisions did not impact the key audit findings that meaningful disparities exist in student outcomes and
in student and family experiences.
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Revision:
Schools and Board Districts
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Revision: Schools and Board Districts
In the original report, PCG made a data analysis error where schools were matched with the incorrect board
districts. This error impacted the following analyses:
• Student Race and Ethnicity and Student Characteristics by Board District
• Teacher Experience and Teacher Credentialing by Board District
• School Building Age and Utilization by Board District
While the quantitative data by board district changed as a result of revisions, the overarching findings that
point to disparities between Board Districts remain.
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
District Characteristics
Student Demographics by Board District
Student Race and Ethnicity by Board District
100%
3% 3% 3%
1% 4% 2%
0%
1%
2% 2% The findings remain that there Percent of Non-White Students by District
5% 5%
9% 9%
4%
6% 1%
are significant differences in
90% 15%
5%
9%
student enrollment
74% Non-White
demographics across Board Students
80% 3%
20% 21% Districts. DISTRICT 1
7%
26%
70% Board District 1 has almost 75%
Non-White students, while Board
DISTRICT 4
60% Districts 5 and 6 have 99% Non-
White Students.
50%
38% 39% DISTRICT 2
2
92% Black students represent the DISTRICT
86%
40% 82% largest student subgroup and DISTRICT 6
47% 72% majority of students in Board
30% Districts 3, 5, 6 and 7 (ranging DISTRICT77
DISTRICT
from 72% to 92%).
20% DISTRICT 3
29% 29%
Hispanic students are the second
10% most represented student DISTRICT 5
13% subgroup, ranging from 5% in
0% Board Districts 3 and 5, to 47%
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 in Board District 1.
99% Non-White
Black or African American Hispanic White Asian Multiracial Students
Content revised 6.3.2025
Source: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, “Enrollment_by_Subgroup_Metrics_2022-23_2023-12-15_18_54_53”
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
District Characteristics
DeKalb County School District Student Demographics (2024-2025)
Student Characteristics by Board District The finding remains that there is wide variance across Board Districts in the
90% percent of students who are economically disadvantaged as measured by
Direct Certification, from 36% in District 1 to 77% in District 7.
80% 77%
75%
73%
The finding remains that there is a wide variance as it related to students
71%
with limited English proficiency, ranging from 2% in District 5 to 39% in
70%
District 1.
60% Percent of Economically Percent of Students with Limited
Disadvantaged Students English Proficiency
50% 47% 48%
39% DISTRICT 1 DISTRICT 1
40%
36%
34%
32%
30% 27% DISTRICT 4 DISTRICT 4
20% DISTRICT 2 DISTRICT 2
DISTRIC DISTRIC
12% 12% T2 T2 DISTRICT 6
10% 11% 10% 10% 10% DISTRICT 6
DISTRIC DISTRIC
9%
10% T6 T6
DISTRICT 7 DISTRICT 7
DISTRIC
3% 2% DISTRIC
T7 T7
0% DISTRICT 3 DISTRICT 3
DISTRIC
DISTRIC
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 T3
T3 DISTRICT 5
DISTRICT 5
DISTRIC DISTRIC
Economically Disadvantaged Limited English Proficiency Students with Disabilities
T5 T5
Content revised 6.3.2025
Source: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, “Enrollment_by_Subgroup_Metrics_2022-23_2023-12-15_18_54_53;” “Direct Certification (School) 2023-2024”;
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Resource Distribution: Teacher Experience and Credentials
Teacher Years of Experience
20
18
Experience by School, in
The finding remains that there is not a significant difference
Average Teacher
16 in the mean of teachers’ years of experience across Board
Districts (13 to 14 years). However, the corrected school-by-
Years
14
district data reflects that there is a difference in median years
12 of teacher experience (ranging from 12 years in Districts 1
10 and 2, to 15 years in Districts 4).
8
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7
Percent of Teachers with Professional Credentials
100% The finding remains that there is variation across Board
95% Districts in the percentage of teachers with full
90% professional credentials at each school, with schools in
85% Board District 3 having the lowest percentage of teachers with
80% full professional credentials. With the corrected school-by-
75% district data, PCG found that schools in District 1 have the
70% highest percentage of teachers with full professional
65% credentials.
60%
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7
Content revised 6.3.2025
Source: Data provided by DeKalb County School District, “Years of Exp. Teachers and Paras,” 2024-2025.
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Resource Distribution: School Building Age and Utilization
Age of School Buildings by Board District
100 Across Board Districts, the age of school buildings varies.
90
80
70 • District 1 has the lowest average (mean) age of school
60 buildings (40 years) and District 5 has the lowest median
50 age (36 years).
40
30
20 • District 2 has the highest average (mean) age (58 years)
10 and the highest median age (67 years).
0
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7
Across the district, schools are operating at an average
(mean) 81% of student enrollment-to-capacity, with a median
of 77%.
The mean student enrollment-to-capacity ranges from a low
of 59% in District 3 (median of 60%) to a high of 100% in
District 1 (median of 100%).
Notably, ten DCSD schools are overenrolled by more than
15% (enrollment-to-capacity percent > 115%). These schools
are in Districts 1, 2, and 4.
Content revised 6.3.2025
Source: Data provided by DCSD, “Schools_20250527”; DeKalb County School District, “Enrollment and Capacity by School October 2024,” retrieved from https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/operations/planning/
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Revision:
School Building Age
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Revision: School Building Age
PCG updated its analysis with a corrected school building age report from DCSD. This led to the revision of:
• Age of School Buildings by Board District (addressed in Slide 10). PCG’s finding remains that there is
wide variance in the age of school buildings by board district.
• Age of School Buildings as Correlated with Student Demographics. PCG analyzed the age of school
building by various student body demographics, including:
• Race and ethnicity
• Percent of students with disabilities
• Percent of economically disadvantaged students (based on Direct Certification)
• Percent of students with limited English proficiency.
Using the revised data source, PCG found no relationship between student demographics and the age of
school buildings.
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Revision:
Unduplicated Student Records
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Revision: Unduplicated Student Records
The District identified that the initial student report (“Quantitative Data Request for DCSD”) included some
duplicated student records. PCG reconducted its analysis and revised:
• Percent of English Learners, which has been updated throughout PCG’s audit from 20% to 21%
• IEP Referral Analysis. The finding remains that male students, Black students, and economically
disadvantaged students are over-represented in the population of students with IEP assignments.
• Disciplinary Referral Analysis. The finding remains that Black students, male students, economically
disadvantaged students, and students with IEP are over-represented in disciplinary referrals.
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Methodology Update:
Direct Certification
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Methodology Update: Direct Certification
In PCG’s original analysis, PCG used data provided through the “Enrollment by Subgroup” report generated by Georgia’s
Office of Student Achievement (GOSA). PCG has conducted a new analysis using GOSA’s “Direct Certification (Schools)”
report in place of the prior report, where the direct certification data was available.
Using direct certification data, PCG has revised the overall district rate of economically disadvantaged students from
64% to 61%
Additionally, PCG revised the following analyses to reflect direct certification data:
• Student Characteristics by Board District (addressed in slide 7)
• Resource Distribution. PCG’s original findings remain:
• Teacher Credentials. Schools with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students have a somewhat
lower percentage of teachers with full professional credentials.
• School-building Capacity. Schools with higher percentages of Economically Disadvantaged students are more likely
to be underenrolled.
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Methodology Update:
AP Course Distribution
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Methodology Update: AP Course Distribution
As informed by Board Member comments, PCG updated its visualization of AP course distribution to reflect the
proportionality of AP course offerings to high school enrollment by board district.
A total of 1,655 AP courses are offered during the 2024-25 school year across DCSD. Of those
courses, 34% were offered at schools in District 1 (North) and only 5% were offered in DISTRICT 1
Districts 6 and 7 (Central). The percent of students enrolled in AP courses follow this trend as
well. While high school student enrollment varies slightly by Board District, the variance in student
enrollment is not proportionate to the variance in AP courses offered.
DISTRICT 4
Δ % AP Course
Offerings to %
Board Number of AP Number of High % of High School High School
District Courses % of AP Courses School Students Students Students DISTRICT 22
DISTRICT
District 1 564 34% 3,737 14% +20%
DISTRICT 6
District 2 120 7% 3,143 12% -5%
District 3 241 15% 3,754 14% +1% DISTRICT7 7
DISTRICT
District 4 330 20% 3,675 14% +6%
District 5 234 14% 4,837 19% -5% DISTRICT 3
District 6 83 5% 3,060 12% -7% DISTRICT 5
District 7 83 5% 3,770 15% -10%
Content revised 6.3.2025
Source: Data provided by DeKalb County School District, “Course and Programs by School”.
High School Student numbers derived from Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, “Enrollment_by_Grade_2023-24_2025-01_14_16_45_56”
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Unimpacted Quantitative Data Slides
May 2025 Presentation
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Priority Recommendation: A&O Accountability Framework
Related Finding: Georgia Milestones
There are large gaps in the Georgia Milestones proficiency rates between student demographic groups in 2024.
Proficiency rates are defined as the percent of students receiving a Proficient Learner or Distinguished Learner score.
In the table below, positive numbers indicate the number of percentage points this demographic groups scored higher than the District average.
Negative numbers indicate the number of percentage points this demographic group scored lower than the District average.
In comparison to…
Student Groups ELA MATH
All students, grades 3-8 All Students, grades 3-8
2023-2024 2023-2024 Across both ELA and Math,
Students with IEPs -24 -18 White, Asian, and
English Learners -25 -16 Multiracial students score
Economically Disadvantaged Students -8 -8 higher than the district
average, while all other
African American or Black Students -5 -7
subgroups score lower, with
Asian Students +12 +22 students with IEPs, English
Hispanic Students -12 -9 Learners, and Hispanic
White Students +40 +42 students scoring the
Multiracial Students +21 +16
lowest of the subgroups.
Female +4 -2
Male -4 +2
Note: Additional Georgia Milestones gap analysis data is included in the Appendix.
Data retrieved from https://gaawards.gosa.ga.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Dashboard.
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DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Priority Recommendation: A&O Accountability Framework
Related Finding: SAT and ACT
SAT or ACT Test Takers, 2022-2024
60% 58%
Hispanic Students
53%
and Students with
50%
Disabilities are
43% significantly
40% 37%
36%
Percent of 11th and 12th underrepresented in
Graders Taking the SAT
31% SAT and ACT test
33%
30%
30%
28%
Percent of 11th and 12th
Graders Taking the ACT
takers, with 33% of
students in the district
22%
% of All Students Taking
SAT
taking the SAT but only
20%
15%
12%
15%
17%
12%
5% of Hispanic
13%
14% % of All Students Taking
ACT Students taking it.
9%
10%
6%
White and Asian
5%
students, however, are
0% overrepresented in
both tests.
Note: Data provided by DeKalb County School District, “2022-2024 ACT_SAT Summary”.
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Conclusion
DeKalb County School District - Access & Opportunity Audit
Conclusion
PCG has provided the district with a full audit report that reflects all updates resulting from these revisions.
While the revisions include numerical shifts, the overarching findings, and therefore PCG’s
recommendations, remain consistent.
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