Pro & Con: Should Atlanta Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall resign?

YES: Cheating harms our kids and accountability begins at the top.

By Ralph Long

Twelve Atlanta public schools were found to have rampant, widespread cheating on the 2009 CRCT. The cheating occurred across classrooms, grade levels and entire schools. Three of the 12 schools, Capitol View, Perkerson and Venetian Hills, are within my state House district.

In 2010, when state auditors observed the testing, there were steep declines on scores at 53 APS schools. The facts are clear. When they thought they could get away with it, scores of APS personnel robbed our children of an education.

I think it is only right that we hold our schools accountable for failing to protect our children, their parents and the neighborhoods that support the schools. Beverly Hall must immediately resign. Accountability starts at the top.

I am a father first, husband second and elected official third. As a father, I look upon my son’s beautiful face with a cocktail of emotions: the strongest love for a young man I have ever known; the strongest fear for a person I have ever experienced; and, the most hope I have ever held for another’s future. I am depending on my son to hold the values that I work to instill in him through my love. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

No one has the right to stymie a parent’s best efforts — no elected or appointed leaders, no governmental bodies, no private organizations. When parents send their children to school, they hope, believe and trust that the government has worked through all the kinks. Parents take a leap of faith that their children will be properly educated and will, consequently, receive an opportunity for the quality of life we all wish for.

When that trust is violated, hope is lost. When hope is lost, despair begins. My district has already experienced the worst of the recession through the loss of jobs and city services. ZIP code 30310 was notorious for mortgage fraud and other predatory lending practices.

More than ever, America needs accountability. While we all struggle with the impact of this severe recession, we need accountability to help our country, our state, our county, our neighborhoods and our schools stabilize and recover.

I asserted that Hall ought to hold the principals cited in the recent test probe report accountable for gaming the system rather than inspiring our students to perform their best with the resources our tax dollars provide.

While the task force refrained from making specific indictments, their findings suggest the pervasive presence of egregious practices, and a win-at-all-costs culture, that have harmed our children.

Atlanta parents, if anyone brings harm to your child, stifles their education and robs them of their future, you have a duty to say enough is enough. It does not matter what that person looks like, where they come from or if they claim to be your friend. Our acceptance of corruption, ineffective leadership and poor governmental services must end right now.

Cheating and stealing our children’s futures are wrong. I will defend my son against anyone who would bring him harm, even if that person looks like me. All parents should say the same.

As my late grandfather, a former Atlanta Public Schools principal, taught me, change requires courageous leadership. He also taught me that leadership is lonely. I am the only elected official who has called for the resignation of Hall and the Dirty Dozen principals. I don’t mind the loneliness, I have been here before.

I am proud to stand with the students, parents and teachers of APS who know that they deserve better than what Hall and the cheaters have delivered. If Hall does not deem it appropriate to make fundamental changes throughout APS, then we should demand her ouster. Every Georgia child, including the children of Atlanta, is entitled to the best education we can offer.

State Rep. Ralph Long, D-Atlanta, represents House District 61.

NO: Test scores shouldn’t overshadow Hall’s success; let her finish.

By Joe Hudson and Leona Barr-Davenport

We say we want change, but do we really? Could it be we only want change until we get it?

Atlanta was eager for change in 1999 when it hired turnaround specialist Beverly Hall. It was one of the rare occasions the business, civic and political communities agreed. Our school system was in shambles and, unless fixed, Atlanta could never reach its potential.

Atlanta Public Schools languished at the bottom of every achievement list. With a reputation for bringing public schools back from the brink of disaster, Atlanta welcomed Hall’s promise to transform its shabby district into world-class schools.

Hall pledged to use nationally proven reform models, facility upgrades and to redesign business operations. Envisioning APS as one of the nation’s highest-performing urban school systems, the district set a goal of graduating 90 percent of ninth-graders in four years ready for college or a career — change we could believe in.

A review of Hall’s 11-year tenure is a good measure of promises against outcomes. Change has come:

● In 2000, just 47 percent of APS fourth-graders could meet state reading standards. In 2010, with an army of state monitors guarding against test manipulation, 81 percent met or exceeded state standards.

● In 2000, 52 percent of sixth-graders met state standards. By 2010, that number jumped to 86 percent — again, with state test monitors present.

● The same is true for eight-graders. In 2000, 60 percent met state standards. By 2010, 90 percent met or exceeded state standards.

● The 2010 graduates earned $129 million in scholarships — and APS had more Gates Millennium Scholars — 29 — than any district in the nation.

● Graduation rates have increased from 39 percent in 2002 to 69 percent in 2009.

● APS is the only participating urban school district to show progress in all National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grades and subjects since 2002. And there’s no manipulation of NAEP scores: The exams, more rigorous than the CRCT, are administered by federal contractors and not APS.

One would expect widespread approval for such a dramatic shift in direction. Instead, a segment of the community is calling Hall’s leadership into question. It seems progress is no longer a welcome sign of change.

It is wrong to suggest Hall resign because some educators are accused of fudging test scores. As Hall’s change philosophy has been driven down throughout the system, some would rather cheat than conform to new standards.

But there is nothing to suggest she has done anything other than exactly what she promised: to improve our schools. Nor is there any indication cheating is more widespread in APS than in other large systems. “The educational problem, in terms of what we call testing irregularities, is between 1 and 2 percent of educators” nationally, said John Fremer, president of Caveon, the nation’s foremost testing security firm. “And our findings here reflect that.”