George Hall Elementary School, Alabama
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George Hall Elementary School is located in one of the poorest parts of Mobile. In 2004, when Mobile Public Schools ordered George Hall to reorganize and restaff, fewer than 50 percent of the school’s fourth-graders were performing at grade level in reading or mathematics. Terri Tomlinson, the new principal, spent her first summer at the school clearing the building of debris (including a dead cat) left behind by disgruntled former employees. Even before she began work, she says, “I knew achievement wouldn’t be a problem.” Since Tomlinson and her team instituted some “structure,” George Hall has become one of the highest performing elementary schools in all of Alabama, with 95 percent or more of its students meeting grade-level standards in reading and mathematics.
