Beverly L. Hall, the superintendent of the Atlanta school district, has been named National Superintendent of the Year for 2009 by the American Association of School Administrators.
The winner was announced Feb. 20 at the organization’s annual conference in San Francisco.
Ms. Hall has led the 49,000-student Atlanta school system for 10 years. Her early professional years were spent in New York City as a teacher, principal, community school district superintendent, and deputy chancellor for instruction.
She later was appointed superintendent of the state-run Newark, N.J., schools.
Ms. Hall’s work in Atlanta has earned her praise for raising student achievement, lowering student absenteeism, and improving teacher training and school leadership. All the district’s elementary schools made adequate yearly progress in 2006-07. (“Atlanta’s Own ‘Hall’ Of Famer,” Nov. 12, 2008.)