Atlanta Students Improve Writing ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Atlanta public schools' eighth graders are catching up quickly to their national peers when it comes to writing skills. A study, released today, shows that their scores on a 2007 national exam shot up 15 points since 2002, while the national average went up only 3 points.

83 percent of Atlanta's eight graders met or exceeded the basic level on the 2007 NAEP, or National Assessment of Educational Progress, test. That's up from 68 percent in 2002.

Beverly Hall, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, is proud of that:

HALL: We're just very excited because we knew we were digging out of a very deep hole. It shows that the system is making progress.

But the study also shows that Atlanta's schools haven't narrowed the achievement gaps between black and white students, and between students of different incomes. Hall disputes that, citing figures from Georgia's state assessment exam that show narrowing gaps.

Steve Suitts, with the Southern Education Foundation, an Atlanta-based policy group, says the difference lies in the fact that Georgia's state exam holds students to a lower standard than the national test.

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