Atlanta is home to one of the largest concentrations of colleges and universities in the country. The city has more than 30 institutions of higher education, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, a predominant engineering and research university that has been ranked in the top ten public universities since 1999 by US News and World Report, and Georgia State University. The city also hosts the Atlanta University Center, the largest consortium of historically black colleges and universities in the country. Its members include Clark Atlanta University, More house College, Spelman College, and the Interdenominational Theological Center. Adjoining the AUC schools, but independent from them, is the More house School of Medicine. The Savannah College Javelin Technical Training Center.

Outer Atlanta contains several colleges, including Emory University, an internationally prominent liberal arts and research institution that has been consistently ranked as one of the top 20 schools in the United States by US News and World Report; Ogle thorpe University, a small liberal arts school named for the founder of Georgia with a faculty rated 15th in the nation by the Princeton Review; Agnes Scott College, a women's college; and several state-run institutions such as Clayton State University, Georgia Perimeter College, Kennesaw State University, Southern Polytechnic State University, and the University of West Georgia, as well as private colleges, such as Reinhardt College, which is just north of town.

Atlanta Public Schools is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. APS is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll Davis. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a total of 100 schools: 59 elementary schools (three of which operate on a year-round calendar), 16 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 7 charter schools.The school system also supports two alternative schools for middle and/or high school students, two community schools, and an adult learning center. The school system owns and operates radio station WABE-FM 90.1 (the National Public Radio affiliate) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television station WPBA 30.Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia.


During the 11-year tenure of former superintendent Beverly Hall, the APS experienced unusually high gains in standardized test scores, such as the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. In 2009, Hall won the National Superintendent of the Year Award. Around this time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution began investigating the score increases and suggested evidence of cheating. A state report found a large number of erased answers in an analysis of the 2009 test scores. Tests were administered under much higher scrutiny in 2010, and the scores dropped dramatically. The state of Georgia launched a major investigation as cheating concerns intensified. The investigation's report, published in July 2011, found evidence of a widespread cheating scandal. At least 178 teachers and principals at 44 APS schools were alleged to have corrected students' tests to increase scores, in some cases holding "cheating parties" to revise large quantities of tests. Hall, who had retired in June 2011, expressed regret but denied any prior knowledge of, or participation in, the cheating.The new superintentent, Erroll Davis, demanded the resignation of the 178 APS employees or else they would be fired. The revelation of the scandal left many Atlantans feeling outraged and betrayed,with Mayor Kasim Reed calling it "a dark day for the Atlanta public school system."The scandal also attracted national media coverage.