WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS BELOW
Vacation needed but Atlanta schools superintendent still has miles to go
by Gale Horton Gay
gale@dekalbchamp.com
 On a rainy Monday morning in May, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall, Ph.D., has landed at Atlanta’s airport after a weekend visiting Harvard University where she chairs the school’s Urban Superintendent’s Program advisory board.
Upon landing, she heads to an interview with a newspaper reporter at East Lake Elementary School, one of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) located in DeKalb County. She has a pressing 11 a.m. appointment but when she stops in a classroom for a photo opp, she becomes momentarily unhurried. She pauses, observes and inquires about what the first graders are doing on the computers in one classroom and in another she asks a fifth grader why she chose a particular topic for an assignment.
Since being named the 2009 Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators earlier this year, Hall has maintained a more hectic schedule than usual. Previously her days as the head of the state’s sixth largest school system were demanding and fully loaded. In addition to overseeing a school system with 49,300 students, 6,500 staff members, a $660 million-plus budget and 103 schools and centers with a broad range of issues, Hall has found that this most-recent recognition made her a sought-after speaker and she’s been pursued to serve on additional boards.
Still, that prestigious honor as well as having been selected in December as the Georgia Superintendent of the Year by the Georgia School Superintendents Association, has ushered Hall into an elite circle. She’s an educator dramatically transforming an urban school system and who has the ear and respect of colleagues, titans of business and community groups.
“It allows me to talk about the good progress of the Atlanta Public School,” said Hall. “We are not New York, Chicago, L.A. We don’t get nearly as much media attention. That’s a good thing. You can keep on doing your work.”
Hall, a native of Jamaica who attended Oxford University in London, came to Atlanta 10 years ago after serving as the state-appointed superintendent of Newark, N.J., schools and deputy chancellor of New York City Public Schools. At the time of her arrival, Atlanta schools were racked with dismal test scores, an alarming drop-out rate and a reputation of overall poor performance.
Hall said that the timing of her arrival played a part in her success. In 1999, when Hall took over the reins at APS, academic performance was abysmal and attendance was poor—a third of elementary and 45 percent of middle school students missed 10 days or more of school per school year at that time.
“The community at large, from the governor to leaders to community groups, everybody had just had it. They said this can’t continue to go on,” said Hall “Everybody said what can we do to help. There was universal support. When I got here, it was almost a crisis. Sometimes it takes a crisis to bring everybody to the table.”
Hall said principals and a stable staff have played a major role in APS’ turnaround. She noted that she hired 89 percent of the principals now in place and that the more than 500 vacancies that existed when she first took over were down to 18 this past year. She credits APS principals with backing her emphasis on attendance and putting effective plans in place to get students back into classrooms. Attendance rates have improved from more than 60 percent of high school students missing 10 or more days of school in 1999 to 34 percent missing the same number 2008.
“Every child is taught and we hold them to a high standard,” said Hall. “They are learning.”
She points to East Lake Elementary as an example, noting that when she first came to Atlanta, East Lake was on a watch list due to underperformance and probably would have been closed if the situation didn’t improve. But it did.
For the past seven years, East Lake has met Adequate Yearly Performance as well as achieved 100 percent of its 2007-2008 academic targets. Next to the school’s administrative offices is a room the principal and staff call their “war room.” Charts line the walls with the names of all 241 students in red, black and blue indicating whether they are struggling, meeting standards or exceeding standards in each subject.
East Lake Principal Gwendolyn Benton said the teachers have been excited about charting the progress of their students in the war room and that they often confer with one another about students and discuss expectations—whether they are currently teaching them or not.
As for the role of parents, Hall said she understands that not every parent is able to give their children the time and attention that they need. She stressed that in some neighborhoods the parents are still very young—some just a few years past being children themselves.
“I think every parent wants their child to be successful. Some of our parents are overwhelmed by challenging economic conditions. Some are homeless. They are overwhelmed trying to survive,” said Hall, adding that APS personnel work to link parents in crisis with agencies that can help them. “If you are dealing with those kinds life-threatening issues, you can’t really be the kind of supportive parents [children need] in the school.”
And the importance of parents can’t be over-emphasized.
“We do believe that parents are our partners,” said Hall, adding that strong parental involvement makes for better schools. She pointed out that parent liaison positions were created as part of the School Reform Teams, which analyze how best to engage parents. Hall said each team is empowered to find what works best for their parents, students and their school.
Hall said that APS has been reconfiguring its high schools for the past several years—moving away from large comprehensive schools that were appropriate the industrial age. “That really doesn’t work well today,” said Hall.
Now large schools are being broken up into small schools—some remaining in the same building but with themes and career focuses sometimes with separate principals under the same roof. An example is the old Southside High School, which is now four high schools in one—Therrell Business High, Therrell Health High, Therrell Law High and Therrell Technology High, each with its own principal and staff.
And Hall hasn’t been shy about pursuing innovative ideas. In 2007, after intensive research and evaluation, Hall introduced something new to the APS system—single gender schools.
Hall, who attended an all-girls school in Jamaica, said research has shown that for many students being separated by gender helps them to achieve academically.
According to Hall, Ben Carson Middle School was failing. During 1999, it was the lowest performing middle school in Atlanta. The average age of parents was 17, average annual income $7,000 and 98 percent of the households were headed by single females.
“We had to do something very very different over here,” she said.
Hall said the answer was to transform part of the school into the Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy for girls and the B.E.S.T. Academy for boys. She sought and received support from 100 Black Men of Atlanta and the Atlanta Cluster of The Links. The schools opened in 2007 with sixth grade students and each year another grade is added.
“They outperformed the old school immediately,” explained Hall, adding that teachers have high expectations of how students act and what they wear. She noted that students carry themselves with more respect at the school and that during the past three years there have been no pregnancies among the female students.
Hall describes the past year as “unbelievable,” explaining that “I’m still trying to absorb this title.” During the past few months, Hall has had the opportunity to meet with the White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. And early May she addressed a national philanthropic council to make an appeal for support for schools nationwide.
Hall is no stranger to fundraising and in her 10 years with APS she has persuaded executives at corporate giants and local entities to support the system—even securing a $22 million grant over five years from General Electric and a $10 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In this time of belt tightening, such effort no doubt will be even more vital.
“We have been aggressive,” said Hall. With such a busy schedule, Hall is fighting to squeeze out two weeks for herself this summer for vacation. It’s questionable if that will happen.
Hall is optimistic about what lies ahead for APS. Although there’s plenty remaining to be done to improve and advance the school system, she said they are on the right track. She admits that more work must be done to lower the dropout rate and better prepare students for college and the workplace. And while she sees positive signs among elementary and middle schools students in improvements in test score, “…high schools across the country are the toughest nut to crack.”
“We are not there yet. We have miles to go before we sleep,” said Hall, paraphrasing a line from a well known Robert Frost poem.
|
