Hall

On the eve of April Fool's Day, Dr Beverly Hall's version of her life story tiptoed so close to fantasy, she joked she had difficulty believing it.

It needs big gulps to swallow the tale of the Jamaican's journey to reform the public education system in a big American city. She almost quit the classroom during a "horrible" first year of teaching. Now her peers think she is the best schools' chief in the United States.

"It's still hard to digest … I still can't absorb it," said Dr Hall, who in February was voted 'National Superintendent of the Year' by the American Association of School Administrators.

"Like I wake up and it's almost like it is happening to someone else."

Becoming the first Atlanta school district boss to win Georgia's top award was a long shot. The national honour - a first for the state - stretched beyond Dr Hall's imagination.

Yet, sitting in the Atlanta Public Schools building, she is self-assured. Halting the decline of the city's schools is reason to be. But Dr Hall credited much of her success to her roots.

"Everything I am today, really and honestly, is attributed to the experiences I had in Jamaica," she said.

In nearly a decade under Dr Hall's tenure, standardised test scores in Atlanta, with close to 50,000 students and 100 schools, have improved. So, too, teacher retention and graduation rates. At one high school, 23 per cent graduated in 2002. Last year 75 per cent did.

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