This article features Beverly L. Hall, poised to become one of the longest-serving superintendents of the Atlanta schools. When she came to Atlanta in 1999, student achievement was sliding downward, teacher morale was dismal, and enrollment was falling as parents pulled their children out of the school system. Under the superintendent's driving focus on the nuts and bolts of schooling--improving the way teachers teach; replacing most principals; adopting whole-school-reform models and using standardized curricula; setting high academic goals and rewarding those who reach them--Atlanta's students have posted achievement gains every single year since Hall became schools chief. Before coming to Atlanta, Hall, a Jamaican native, served as the superintendent in Newark, New Jersey, and as an English teacher, junior high school principal, and top administrator in the New York City public schools.