- Feb 28, 2009
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A New Leader Helps Heal Atlanta Schools, Scarred by Scandal
Erroll B. Davis Jr., Atlanta’s superintendent, at Slater Elementary, one of the 10 schools he visits each month.
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: February 19, 2012
ATLANTA — For years, Beverly L. Hall, the former school superintendent here, ruled by fear. Principals were told that if state test scores did not go up enough, they would be fired — and 90 percent of them were removed in the decade of Dr. Hall’s reign.
Underlings were humiliated during rallies at the Georgia Dome. Dr. Hall permitted principals with the highest test scores to sit up front near her, while sticking those with the lowest scores off to the side, in the bleachers.
She was chauffeured around the city, often with an entourage of aides and security guards. When she spoke publicly, questions had to be submitted beforehand for screening. “She was known as the queen in her ivory tower,” said Verdaillia Turner, president of the Atlanta teachers’ union.
But Dr. Hall got results. Test scores soared. Two national groups named her superintendent of the year. The secretary of education, Arne Duncan, hosted her at the White House.
Fear seemed to work.
Then, last summer, the Atlanta miracle collapsed. A state investigation found that 178 principals and teachers at nearly half the district’s schools — desperate to raise test scores — had cheated. Students from this poor, mostly African-American school district who could barely read were rated proficient on state tests, and they didn’t receive the remedial help they needed..
....On July 1, the day he was supposed to retire, Mr. Davis was sitting at Dr. Hall’s old desk, reading the 800-page investigative report and trying to figure out which, if any, of the people in the offices surrounding him could be trusted.
Since then, he has been unbending about rooting out corruption, to the point that Richard L. Hyde, who had been the lead investigator on the commission that issued the state report, said, “He’s brought order to chaos, it’s very impressive.” Mr. Davis has removed more than the 178 teachers and principals named in the report, and he dismissed several top administrators....
....As he travels the district, often driving himself to meet with small groups of principals, Mr. Davis repeatedly tells them, “Education is the only industry in this country where failure is blamed on the workers, not the leadership.”
....People are still shellshocked from the Hall years. Ms. Turner, the union president, said she was surprised when Mr. Davis’s secretary called to set up a lunch. “I said, ‘Why does he want to do that?’ ” Ms. Turner recalled. “She said, ‘He wants to get to know you.’ The man is a breath of fresh air.”
Dr. Hall was viewed as inaccessible, sequestered in her office.
Mr. Davis’s home telephone number is listed.
.... “My policy is zero tolerance,” he said. “I do not want people who cheat teaching children. Can I do that? We’ll find out. If I lose, so be it, sue me.”
....He says he does not want a school system driven by test results.
“That is not how education should work,” Mr. Davis said. “If you create the right kind of system, run by the right kind of people, tests scores will take care of themselves.”
When Dr. Hall was the superintendent, she covered one wall in her office with bar graphs showing the test results for all 100 city schools.
After Mr. Davis became superintendent, he took the test scores down and replaced them with large color photographs of Atlanta schoolchildren.
....COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/e...a-schools-are-on-the-mend.html?pagewanted=all
.
Erroll B. Davis Jr., Atlanta’s superintendent, at Slater Elementary, one of the 10 schools he visits each month.
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: February 19, 2012
ATLANTA — For years, Beverly L. Hall, the former school superintendent here, ruled by fear. Principals were told that if state test scores did not go up enough, they would be fired — and 90 percent of them were removed in the decade of Dr. Hall’s reign.
Underlings were humiliated during rallies at the Georgia Dome. Dr. Hall permitted principals with the highest test scores to sit up front near her, while sticking those with the lowest scores off to the side, in the bleachers.
She was chauffeured around the city, often with an entourage of aides and security guards. When she spoke publicly, questions had to be submitted beforehand for screening. “She was known as the queen in her ivory tower,” said Verdaillia Turner, president of the Atlanta teachers’ union.
But Dr. Hall got results. Test scores soared. Two national groups named her superintendent of the year. The secretary of education, Arne Duncan, hosted her at the White House.
Fear seemed to work.
Then, last summer, the Atlanta miracle collapsed. A state investigation found that 178 principals and teachers at nearly half the district’s schools — desperate to raise test scores — had cheated. Students from this poor, mostly African-American school district who could barely read were rated proficient on state tests, and they didn’t receive the remedial help they needed..
....On July 1, the day he was supposed to retire, Mr. Davis was sitting at Dr. Hall’s old desk, reading the 800-page investigative report and trying to figure out which, if any, of the people in the offices surrounding him could be trusted.
Since then, he has been unbending about rooting out corruption, to the point that Richard L. Hyde, who had been the lead investigator on the commission that issued the state report, said, “He’s brought order to chaos, it’s very impressive.” Mr. Davis has removed more than the 178 teachers and principals named in the report, and he dismissed several top administrators....
....As he travels the district, often driving himself to meet with small groups of principals, Mr. Davis repeatedly tells them, “Education is the only industry in this country where failure is blamed on the workers, not the leadership.”
....People are still shellshocked from the Hall years. Ms. Turner, the union president, said she was surprised when Mr. Davis’s secretary called to set up a lunch. “I said, ‘Why does he want to do that?’ ” Ms. Turner recalled. “She said, ‘He wants to get to know you.’ The man is a breath of fresh air.”
Dr. Hall was viewed as inaccessible, sequestered in her office.
Mr. Davis’s home telephone number is listed.
.... “My policy is zero tolerance,” he said. “I do not want people who cheat teaching children. Can I do that? We’ll find out. If I lose, so be it, sue me.”
....He says he does not want a school system driven by test results.
“That is not how education should work,” Mr. Davis said. “If you create the right kind of system, run by the right kind of people, tests scores will take care of themselves.”
When Dr. Hall was the superintendent, she covered one wall in her office with bar graphs showing the test results for all 100 city schools.
After Mr. Davis became superintendent, he took the test scores down and replaced them with large color photographs of Atlanta schoolchildren.
....COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/e...a-schools-are-on-the-mend.html?pagewanted=all
.