• News & Culture
    • Arts & Events
    • Great Reads
    • Atlanta 500
    • Block by Block: Stories from the streets that connect us
    • Women Making a Mark
    • Pride Guide 2022
  • Food & Drink
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • 75 Best Restaurants in Atlanta
    • 50 Best Tacos
    • 123 Things to Eat on Buford Highway
    • 50 Best Bars
    • Best Barbecue
    • Best Breakfast
    • The TOUR Championship Cocktail Contest
  • Home
    • Atlanta Magazine’s HOME Digital Editions
    • Artists & Galleries
    • Design Advice
    • Design News
    • Gardens
    • Real Estate
    • Neighborhoods
    • Real Estate All-Stars
    • Sponsored: Preferred HOME Partner
    • Kitchens for a Cause
  • Life & Style
    • Style
    • School Guide
    • Health & Wellness
    • Top Doctors
    • Top Dentists
    • Sponsored: Physician & Dentist Profiles
    • Buckhead Guidebook
  • Travel
    • Southbound
    • Southbound Digital Editions
    • 50 Best Things to Do in Georgia
    • Hidden Georgia
    • North Georgia Mountains
    • Great Georgia Hikes
    • Jekyll Island
    • Georgia Travel Guide
    • Gilmer: Ellijay Visitors Guide 2022
    • Alabama Vacation Guide 2023
  • Best of ATL
    • Eat
    • Drink
    • Do
    • Buy
    • Readers’ Choice
  • Magazine
    • Subscription Center
    • Newsletters
    • Digital Editions
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Pitch Us
    • Advertise
    • Custom Media
    • Give Atlanta
    • Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
    • Archives
    • Where to Find
  • Events
    • Whiskey Festival 2023
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • Atlanta Magazine Whiskey Festival 2022
      • 2020 Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse
      • Atlanta Baby and Beyond
      • Atlanta Magazine Whiskey Festival 2019
      • DINES: A Taste of the City’s Best Restaurants
      • 2019 Modern Style Showhome
      • Best Burger Battle
      • Pinewood Forest Idea Home
      • 2018 Modern Style Showhouses
    • Event Photos
  • Shop
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Create an account
Privacy and Cookies Policy
Sign up
Welcome!Register for an account
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy and Cookies Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Issue Archive
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Atlanta 500
  • Give Atlanta
  • GaBiz Magazine
  • Vote for the Best of Atlanta Reader’s Choice 2023
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Create an account
Privacy and Cookies Policy
Create an account
Welcome! Register for an account
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy and Cookies Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Atlanta Magazine Atlanta Magazine
Atlanta Magazine Atlanta Magazine
  • News & Culture
    • Arts & Events
    • Great Reads
    • Atlanta 500
    • Block by Block: Stories from the streets that connect us
    • Women Making a Mark
    • Pride Guide 2022
  • Food & Drink
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • 75 Best Restaurants in Atlanta
    • 50 Best Tacos
    • 123 Things to Eat on Buford Highway
    • 50 Best Bars
    • Best Barbecue
    • Best Breakfast
    • The TOUR Championship Cocktail Contest
  • Home
    • Atlanta Magazine’s HOME Digital Editions
    • Artists & Galleries
    • Design Advice
    • Design News
    • Gardens
    • Real Estate
    • Neighborhoods
    • Real Estate All-Stars
    • Sponsored: Preferred HOME Partner
    • Kitchens for a Cause
  • Life & Style
    • Style
    • School Guide
    • Health & Wellness
    • Top Doctors
    • Top Dentists
    • Sponsored: Physician & Dentist Profiles
    • Buckhead Guidebook
  • Travel
    • Southbound
    • Southbound Digital Editions
    • 50 Best Things to Do in Georgia
    • Hidden Georgia
    • North Georgia Mountains
    • Great Georgia Hikes
    • Jekyll Island
    • Georgia Travel Guide
    • Gilmer: Ellijay Visitors Guide 2022
    • Alabama Vacation Guide 2023
  • Best of ATL
    • Eat
    • Drink
    • Do
    • Buy
    • Readers’ Choice
  • Magazine
    • Subscription Center
    • Newsletters
    • Digital Editions
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Pitch Us
    • Advertise
    • Custom Media
    • Give Atlanta
    • Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
    • Archives
    • Where to Find
  • Events
    • Whiskey Festival 2023
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • Atlanta Magazine Whiskey Festival 2022
      • 2020 Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Designer Showhouse
      • Atlanta Baby and Beyond
      • Atlanta Magazine Whiskey Festival 2019
      • DINES: A Taste of the City’s Best Restaurants
      • 2019 Modern Style Showhome
      • Best Burger Battle
      • Pinewood Forest Idea Home
      • 2018 Modern Style Showhouses
    • Event Photos
  • Shop
Home Women Making A Mark Meria Carstarphen
Custom Publication

Meria Carstarphen

She’s graduating Atlanta Public Schools from scandal to success
By
Beth Castle
-
May 31, 2017
6580

There is something unexpected about Dr. Meria Carstarphen, the forty-seven-year-old superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. Maybe it’s that she’s a hugger (“you should have seen my dad at church,” she says), or that, instead of a suit, she shows up to her interview wearing a red-and-white baseball tee that reads, “Superintendent I Am.”

Or perhaps it’s her nearly tangible sense of optimism. Carstarphen joined Atlanta Public Schools in 2014, after a cheating scandal purged schools of many teachers and administrators. After a yearlong, nationwide search for a new superintendent, the school board unanimously appointed Carstarphen. “I’m sure a person with less grit might get overwhelmed, but I chose my path,” she says.

Raised in Selma, Alabama, Carstarphen, a Tulane and Auburn graduate, began teaching Spanish and documentary photography at her former middle school in 1992. She witnessed firsthand how factors such as socioeconomic status and race can affect children’s futures. “It’s like you’re fighting in a system that knows you need to win, but there are just layers and layers of deeply encrusted issues,” she says.

She believes education can change that—that mentors and educators can help pull kids out of poverty. In 1998, Carstarphen enrolled in Harvard University’s rigorous urban superintendency program, which prepares doctoral students to lead big-city school districts where educational reform, welfare needs, and the justice system are invariably linked. Since then, she’s served as a superintendent in three cities: St. Paul, Austin, and now Atlanta.

Of them, she says Atlanta has been the toughest (the deep-seated issues and political pressure have proven especially challenging), but Carstarphen has already seen improvement. In 2015, the district’s graduation rate jumped to a record 71.5 percent, 12 percent higher than the year before. “I have great hope for my community and for our country’s future,” Carstarphen says. With stats like these, her optimism may not be so unexpected after all.

Advertisement
  • TAGS
  • Women Making a Mark 2017
Beth Castle

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Custom Publication

Jamie Green-Fergerson

Custom Publication

Kiran Ebrahim

Custom Publication

Barbara Rothbaum

Follow Us

69,386FansLike
144,836FollowersFollow
493,480FollowersFollow
Atlanta Magazine
Since 1961, Atlanta magazine, the city’s premier general interest publication, has served as the authority on Atlanta, providing its readers with a mix of long-form nonfiction, lively lifestyle coverage, in-depth service journalism, and literary essays, columns, and profiles.

Most recent

Have a blue-ribbon day at the North Carolina State Fair

October 3, 2023

Where to eat, sleep, and grab gifts in Auburn, Alabama

September 29, 2023

Enjoy a Buckhead “staycation” at the newly redeveloped Phipps Plaza

September 21, 2023

GREAT READS

Georgia farmers' mental health

Georgia’s largest industry faces a mental health crisis

July 24, 2023
Fulton County Jail

The real behind the wall: A look inside the infamous, deadly Fulton County Jail

July 15, 2023
Mariah Parker

Mariah Parker’s next move

June 19, 2023
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Issue Archive
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Business Forum
  • Privacy and Cookies Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • General Contest Rules
© 2023. All rights reserved.