Atlanta schools chief
 responds to allegations

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dr. Beverly Hall, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, spoke with the AJC by phone on Thursday about the state analysis that identified suspicious test scores at dozens of Atlanta schools. Here are excerpts of her comments during that hourlong interview:

Enlarge photo

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall talks with students Friday at Beecher Hills Elementary.

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“I’m very concerned about the number of [Atlanta] schools [on the state list]. I’m clearly convinced that we must do a very detailed analysis and investigation, and I’m convinced that when do, we will get to the bottom of this. It’s always been my position that cheating is never acceptable. But I don’t know yet what occurred.”

“There are 58 principals and 440-plus teachers, not to mention our students. ... Their reputations are at stake here, so I have asked for a timely and thorough — and I hope those two things are not contradictory — timely and thorough analysis so that we can get to the bottom of what happened here and deal with it appropriately.”

“If any teacher, any principal, any administrator cheated, then ... no one will have to ask me to take care of it; I will take care of it. And that person should not, and will not, work for APS or for that matter, hopefully, for any other school system.”

“Clearly, we have already been tried in the court of public opinion. But I really look at the data. You are looking at the summary data. On first blush, it indicates a major problem. But I know enough about data analysis to know that is not certain. We are going to have to look class by class.”

“Why would I want to cover up people who were cheating because it takes away from [Atlanta schools’ achievements]? People in Georgia ... now they are saying, ‘We always knew they were cheating because those kids could never achieve at that level.’ It is in my best interest to ferret out and deal aggressively with anyone who thinks we need to cheat to prove that our children can do well.”

“I also have to say for the record that as hard as it is for some people to believe, when children are held to high standards, when teachers use appropriate strategies, when there are high expectations, a lot of support, intervention strategies, children do improve, and some of them improve dramatically.”

Compiled by Veronica Johnson from
a transcript of the interview made 
from an audio recording.