Atlanta school turns it around—for a Blue Ribbon award

 Sharon Davis Williams was in a meeting earlier this month when she received a note that Venetian Hills Elementary School had just been named a national Blue Ribbon School. Of course, Williams did what any overjoyed school administrator might do: She started screaming. Out loud. During the meeting. “I couldn’t help it,” Williams, an executive director for school reform at Atlanta Public Schools, recalled recently. Williams had good reason to shout: Five years ago, Venetian Hills was under federal sanctions to offer children private tutoring and transfers to better–performing schools because the campus had repeatedly failed to meet academic standards. Now, after making dramatic gains on state reading, English and math exams, the southwest Atlanta campus has won one of the country’s highest education honors. Read about the changes the school made at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution website.