The study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, released this month, ranked history programs based on content, clarity and academic rigor.

According to the report, the average grade for all states was barely a "D-".

Georgia was one of three awarded a solid "B" by the group.

The state scored points for offering U.S. History courses in both middle and high school, something few others do.

Kathleen Porter-Magee heads the institute's High Quality Standards program.

"There is just a lot of rich content in the standards and that’s what our reviewers were looking for," she says. "And with some occasional gaps the Georgia standards do a really good job."

Porter-Magee says Georgia also did a good job of keeping political bias out of the history books.

"The one way I think they could raise the bar even further is dealing in an even more straight-forward manner with issues of slavery particularly in the state," she says.

Neighboring South Carolina got the only "A" in the country.

The report praised the state for offering the most balanced coverage of slavery and the Civil War.

Tags: Georgia public schools, Georgia History, Fordham Institute, Georgia history curriculum