Dr. Hall spoke on test questions: Did she say right things?

Several of you asked that I post and we discuss Beverly Hall’s op-ed piece in the AJC. Dr. Hall wrote the piece in response to ongoing AJC stories on testing disparities in some APS schools.

APS Superintendent Beverly Hall addressed the testing questions raised by an AJC investigation in an AJC op-ed piece reprinted here.

Here is what Dr. Hall wrote:

Over the last 10 years, a top goal at the Atlanta Public Schools has been to assemble one of the nation’s most professional and competent teams of teachers, principals and administrators who believe urban schoolchildren can achieve and excel academically.

Student achievement occurs in the classroom, and effective teaching is a prerequisite to student achievement. We know that competent, caring teachers and administrators can dramatically and quickly improve academic performance. Because we have assembled such a highly professional — and I believe ethical — group of teachers and administrators, I am confident the remarkable educational gains we have made are the result of effective teaching, more accountability, smaller class sizes and other classroom innovations.

But we also take seriously the importance of accurate testing, and that is why we will fully investigate “outlier” test scores recently reported by the AJC.
Accuracy in testing provides administrators with an opportunity to make useful assessments of principals and school personnel. And it is an essential tool for principals to measure the competency of teachers and the effectiveness of new educational approaches.

Truth-in-testing is also important because it reflects on the integrity and credibility of the school system. It gives our parents, supporters and the public an opportunity to see if the important changes we have put in place over the last decade — smaller class sizes, smaller high schools and more accountability — are having the intended effect of raising student performance.

That is why, in light of recent questions about test scores in 12 of our 101 schools, I have requested an independent review by a panel of national experts. We want to know if the large gains or declines in student testing are a result of factors not considered in the AJC analysis. When those results are available, we will share them openly with the public.

But this much is certain: Over the last 10 years, our teachers, principals and administrators, working in concert with concerned parents and civic and business leaders, have made remarkable progress in student achievement, improvements that are real and measurable.

In 2000, for instance, APS fourth-graders were trailing the state by 18 percentage points — and only 47 percent of them were meeting standards in reading. Today, 86 percent of APS fourth-graders meet or exceed standards in reading. The same is true across grades and subjects, even as state standards have become more rigorous.

Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress further validate progress at APS. In 11 districts participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment, Atlanta is the only one to show significant gains in student performance in all NAEP-tested grades and subjects since 2002-03. Our graduation rates also show that our progress is real. In 2002, only 39 percent of APS students graduated from high school. The graduation rate for 2008-09 was 69 percent, an increase of 30 percentage points.

The New Schools at Carver are the best example of how innovations, such as smaller high schools, can quickly produce remarkable academic gains. In 2002, the graduation rate at Carver High was only 14.4 percent. In 2009, the New Schools at Carver delivered a combined graduation rate of 94 percent.

We will implement all the recommendations of the review panel, because we want to be best in class, above reproach and held to the highest standards. But we don’t want anyone left with the false impression that the gains we have achieved are ephemeral or the result of manipulation. Such an impression, in fact, would “cheat” the students, teachers, principals and parents who have worked so hard to achieve those gains.