Cheating Scandal Haunts Atlanta School Superintendent - NYTimes.com

Scandal Haunts Atlanta’s School Chief

Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times

Superintendent Beverly L. Hall interacting with kindergarteners last week at Centennial Place Elementary School in Atlanta.

By SHAILA DEWAN

Published: August 7, 2010

RelatedATLANTA — Early on in Beverly L. Hall’s 11-year tenure as superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, she figured that the academic gains she intended to make with the city’s mostly poor, black students would face skepticism.

Cheating Inquiry in Atlanta Largely Vindicates Schools(August 3, 2010)

Enlarge This Image

Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times

Superintendent Beverly L. Hall’s success in Atlanta has not insulated her from a scandal of widespread cheating at 12 schools.

“I knew the day would come when people would question, was the progress real?” she said in an interview last week.

So Dr. Hall took a risk, signing up for a trial program to track and compare urban school districts. Since then, Atlanta has made the highest gains in the program in reading and among the highest in math, making it a national model and Dr. Hall a star in the education field.

But that has not insulated her from a cheating scandal that initially threatened to engulf two-thirds of the district’s

Little as They Try, Students Can’t Get a D Here

By WINNIE HU

Michael Appleton for The New York Times

The no-D policy has prompted debate among students and concern among teachers, but parents have applauded it.

Officials in the Mount Olive, N.J., school district adopted a standard allowing only A’s, B’s, C’s and F’s for students.

Superintendent Beverly L. Hall’s success in Atlanta has not insulated her from a scandal of widespread cheating at 12 schools.

Scandal Haunts Atlanta’s School Chief

By SHAILA DEWAN

Beverly L. Hall has become a star in the education field, but that has not insulated her from a scandal that threatened to engulf two-thirds of the district’s schools.