Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America's 45,000* Failing Public Schools

by Ron Berler

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER Brookside Elementary in Norwalk, Connecticut, is preparing for the first day of a new school year and another chance to improve its failing scores on the annual statewide standardized test known as the CMT. The challenges are many, and for the faculty—whose jobs may depend on their students’ ability to improve on the test—the stakes are high. Ten-year-old Hydea is about to start fifth grade—with second-grade reading skills. Her friend Marbella is a little further along, but she’s more interested in socializing than in learning. And then there’s Matthew, a second grader who began the school year below grade level and who, over the course of the year, slipped even more. In past years, these three students and many others would have received help from the literacy specialist Mrs. Schaefer. But with cutbacks and a change in her job description—the third in as many years—she won’t be able to give all struggling students the same attention. This year, she will have to select the few students whom she and the teachers can bet on—the ones who are close to achieving proficiency on the CMT. The hope is that this strategy, though not ideal, will give them the boost they—and the school—need to pass the exams. And, for added measure, Principal Hay has already asked his faculty to teach to the test. Journalist Ron Berler spent a full year at Brookside, sitting in on classes, strategy sessions, and even faculty meetings. In Raising the Curve , he introduces us to the students, teachers, and staff who make up the Brookside community. Though their school is classified as failing—like so many others across the country—they never give up on themselves or on one another. In this nuanced and personal portrait, Berler captures their concerns, as well as their pride, resilience, and spirited faith.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2013

About the author

I have spent a large chunk of my life either in school or thinking about school. When your mother is a lifelong teacher (fourth grade) the issue is hard to avoid. My first paid writing was about school – while a high-school senior, I wrote a weekly news-about-campus column in the local Westport, Conn., Town Crier, for which I earned three dollars a week. Not as much as I had pocketed from my first media-related job, delivering the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, at age 11, but it was a start.

I began my current writing gig shortly before graduating Northwestern University. A professor of mine whose second job was music editor of the Chicago Tribune encouraged me to freelance for his paper. I reported on drag racing, the Jackson Five and the art of panhandling, among other topics, and then found my niche after taking over as manager of a local Little League team, a position I would hold for 20 years.

Youth issues. It was the best beat I ever had. Children – if they trust you – have no self-editing mechanism. They have the refreshing habit of telling you exactly what they think. I began by writing on sports matters – a 12-year-old baseball star faced with pressure from fellow players to carry the ball club; the loneliness of a Korean child eager to assimilate at his school, who had to beg his father to let him try out for the middle-school basketball team. That led to a weekly, general interest youth-issues column in the Tribune – a job that returned me to school. I spent two or three days a week chasing stories in Chicago-area classrooms.

Eventually I moved to New York and became a senior editor at React, a teen newsweekly published by Parade. Later I served as editor in chief of NBA Inside Stuff, a pro basketball magazine for tweens published by Sports Illustrated For Kids. Along the way I wrote one children’s book (The Super Book of Baseball) and edited another (Rising Stars: The 10 Best Young Players in the NBA). My work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Journal and Outside, among other publications.

Then, four years ago, I married a Norwalk, Conn., elementary-school speech pathologist and began mentoring troubled boys in her building. It led to the idea for Raising the Curve. Once again, I was back in school.

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

More people need to read this. They will begin to understand what this climate of high stakes testing is doing to our kids and our teachers and our schools. Berler volunteered at Brookside Elementary in Norwalk, Connecticut for a school year and really got to know the principal, several teachers, and some amazing kids. He watched, he recorded.

What he has created is a-year-in-the-life. Principal Hays' deep devotion to the school library, knowing a strong library is the key to literacy and achievement. Mrs. Schafer, the literacy coach, has watched her department, and now her job, be eroded by cuts. She's committed to a reading workshop approach with the school's students and does everything she can do to make it work. Her biggest obstacles are the classroom teachers who haven't bought in, and keep backsliding.

Mr. Morey, the laid-back teacher of fifth grade has a class full of 'troubled, trouble-making' kids and is responsible for 'raising the curve' for Brookside, a school on NCLB's failing list...they know they'll never escape, but they all work to get kids to grade level.

For three months of the year, all instruction stops so teachers can do test prep...THREE MONTHS!! How mind-numbing for them all. In Connecticut at this point, tests were only high stakes for schools, but kids feel the pressure mounting also. They're good kids and they want to do well...for themselves and for their school.

Watching the melt-downs, the self-doubt breaks my heart. Berler shows the deep inner life of Mr. Morey's kids. Their family settings, their friendships, their hopes and dreams. I appreciated getting to know these awesome young people, and am saddened by their despair over the tests.

"Raising the Curve" is statistically impossible, as is the NCLB REQUIREMENT that every child read at grade level. Berler shows the human cost as people try.

Hay and Schaefer turn themselves inside out to become number crunchers, when at heart their are passionate about REAL literacy for their kids.

When passionate educators have to turn their back on their own knowledge and experience to play number games to hit arbitrary assessment targets, the world has lost. The school has lost, the kids have lost.

If you care about education and children, read this book.

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who has worked in education, especially at an inner-city school, this book will not present any new information. But it's still a fascinating look at the sincere and often drastic measures educators take for the improvement of their students. Berler did a great job presenting from various sides; allowing the teachers' (and often students') voices to come through. I appreciated that the phenomenon of "teaching to the test", despite being an overarching theme in this book, was not a mantra that the reader was beat over the head with. Berler provided a balanced explanation. He has made me miss teaching even more than I already do.

[Della Tingle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is spot on. As an educator, I see, or have seen, exactly what this book describes. It is depressing and can leave one feeling helpless, even hopeless, at times, but all teachers can do is to persevere and never give up!

I have found myself wondering many times over the years how to get parents to take an interest in their children’s education. Well, maybe this is it! In 1650, Roger Ludlow “...decreed that parents ‘endeavor to teach by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning, as may enable them to perfectly read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglected therein.’” 😁

Key points for me are as follow:

“...the pressure to achieve...” comes from “...the district, the state, the U.S. Department of Education, and the media (but not the students’ parents)...”

“Everyone wants to blame the schools for the education gap. The place where you solve the education gap is at home. I say there’s no education gap in homes where the parents have read to their children since they were babies, constantly exposing them to new vocabulary.”

“...testing would lead to increased test prep, at the expense of a well-balanced curriculum.” Yes, I have seen this where teachers are forced to test prep, test prep, test prep at the expense of subjects like science and social studies.

“With so much of a school district’s resources now devoted to lifting below-average students...to proficiency, little remained for the academically talented.” This is so very true! There are not enough hours in the day!

On education: “You do it right, and that kid becomes an engaged citizen and a productive member of a very powerful economy. You do it wrong, and that kid can end up as a ward of the state, one way or another, whether it’s through incarceration or being economically unproductive.” ~U. S. Representative Jim Himes

“...children who grow up without a home library of at least twenty books tend to be less successful in school than those who do.”

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author embeds as a teacher's aide in a Connecticut 5th grade class for a year, describing in great detail the academic and behavioral struggles of the students, frustrations of the teachers and principal in trying to work within budget constraints, overcome low parental involvement, and engage mostly impoverished kids whose standardized test performance holds the key to the adults' job security under NCLB.

there is no shortage of education writing that stays at the abstract and/or national level and focuses on funding issues, school choice, "value-added" models for interpreting test data, and so on, and an inside look at one class in particular is a welcome supplement, but at times I wished he'd step back, maybe skip one more chapter on the twists and turns in one of the 5th grade friendship groups, and address larger policy issues.

just to take one example, a couple teacher quotes address the absurdity of judging school progress only by what % of kids rise above particular cutoff scores (into "basic" or "proficient" categories, e.g.), which has foreseeable unintended consequences [ex: it's pointless for this purpose to spend time helping an advanced student get even more out of your class, and equally pointless to help someone who's far behind grade level in reading to catch up to only a bit behind -- the bang for your buck, and therefore what the special tutoring and such is aimed at, lies in the group of kids just a bit below par who might up your school's hit rate with a small, realistic amount of improvement and some tips on test-taking strategies]. I would have liked to hear more about this issue -- how the standards were designed, what alternatives have been considered and what their effects might be, etc.

I guess another way to put it is that the book is long on a closeup shot of what a classroom is like when test prep dominates, but short on taking a wider-angle view of the system as a whole.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Raising the Curve” by Ron Berler
In this piece of long-form journalism, Ron Berler reports on Brookside Elementary’s road to taking the Connecticut Mastery Test. Marked as a school in deep trouble, Berler chronicles the various challenges faced by the school’s administrators, teachers, and students in their quest to improve their scores in literacy and math. This was a fascinating look into the everyday life of a “failing” school, leading us to question what it really means to apply that label. I also think Berler did a remarkable job with his intersection of interviewees, leading to an examination of the issue from diverse perspectives, including students. However, I found myself wishing for more research on education as a social institution to create more complexity in explaining the lived narratives of those he interviewed. It was clear throughout that Berler is a journalist, a very good one, but not an education researcher and I was missing some of that expertise. Still a very solid read, especially for K-12 educators, but perhaps not quite what it could have been.

[Sarah Toton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work with test data, but never see the other side. What exactly is going on in classrooms? What is going on in students' lives? This book gave a very vivid account of a whole year in the lives of some students. The author brought together perspectives of a student's life and classroom experience like I have never seen before, gaining insight into what the students, parents, teachers, and administrators were thinking, feeling, and struggling with. It read like a story and I got attached to the students. It definitely did not feel like reading non-fiction. I finished it in one day in about 6 hours while on a plane.

I would definitely recommend to people interested in education (although teachers are probably aware of most of the reality the book captures).

[Mary Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so enthralling and kept my attention the whole time! The way that the author was able to give you a deep dive into the elementary schools of today is absolutely astounding! A definite read for teachers, students, and parents alike!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly insightful and informative. Despite my going to school for four years to be an educator, the actual technicalities as to how schools work, in terms of working with governmental powers that be, testing, etc., isn't something that's touched on. You're taught to be a good teacher, making interesting and appealing lessons for students. But the problem with the educational system in this country seems to lie deeper into the red tape and, to be frank, bullshit that occupies most of it.

Berler does a great job of balancing the personal stories of students with the factual running of the school, as well as the stories of the teachers, principals, and other workers involved. I thought that it would be more broad, but it was just specific enough to keep me engaged.

The main idea revolves around testing; thank God, because since I teach in a private preschool, I don't have much understanding of how the "system of testing" works. This is a pretty perfect resource for anyone interested in the subject. Again, Berler goes really well from describing how the testing came about, to how it affects the teachers and most especially the students. I'm well aware that we're all Test Crazy, but I've also always thought, "Well, we need SOME way to assess where our students are. How else are we to do it?" However, watching the government basically force these teachers to give up doing fun, interesting lessons that really engage kids to do test prep for LITERALLY months, is revolting. The boredom of both students and teachers seeps through the pages. They end up, in my opinion, not learning a damn thing.

I've concluded the problem comes not necessarily from the idea of testing itself (though changes made to the frequency and timing of the tests certainly have an impact), but rather NCLB and the government's use of the data these tests give them. It's described so succinctly, again and again, how the standards used to analyze this data are impossible to live up to. As in, if in 2011 test scores show that fifth graders are reading at a low third grade level, then the school fails. The problem, however, is that if in 2012, fifth graders are testing at a high fourth grade level, they still fail. It's completely discounted that the teachers have been working their asses off to raise their students' averages a full year and a half, which is no easy task when you have 25 students per room, all struggling.

And boy, do they work their asses off. The most touching moments of the book were reading about the literacy coach, teachers, and principal describing their utter frustration at not getting these kids to where they need to be. To see how much of it is because of budget cuts is despicable. The principal at one point notes how the school's lowest scores are in reading, and yet budget cuts reduced their literacy coaches to half. What the hell?!

This is a pretty excellent book for parents and just enraged citizens to read as well, who think teachers are the enemy. I'll never say there aren't crappy teachers; however, the degree to which those profiled knew their students - and I'm talking every one of their strengths and weaknesses, every member of their family, who spoke English and/or was literate at home - was mind blowing. They all were extremely insightful into those children's problems, narrowing down just general poor grades to focusing problems, comprehension problems, etc. They are trying. But they are getting absolutely no support from the people above them. Reading about the literacy specialist's job changing three times in as many years made me want to pull my hair out.

At the same time, you see the quagmire. Berler does note how many of the teachers are slow to implement programs that are proven to work; they aren't forced to do it, and really can't be held accountable. He also alludes to their whining when new programs require them to do extra training. Again, I think most teachers eat that kind of thing up and a lot of the complaining has more to do with a defeatist attitude ("Why would this work when nothing else does and I'm already overworked and underpaid and exhausted"), but therein lies another hole in the system: Accountability.

I've rambled on and on, and much of it isn't a great "review;" the information is sort of a review in and of itself. It's an excellent, excellent book to start with if you're interested in how the education system works. Extremely readable, Berler keeps it simple as much as possible. The problem is, as with most books about the education system that I read, I wound up more frustrated as to where to even start to fix things.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a bid reader of non-fiction. I don't think I ever really have been, but every now and then there are books that make me consider, well, reconsidering that point of view. This definitely one of those books. Well-written, highly researched, and very honest, Raising the Curve gives us a glimpse into a failing school, Brookside Elementary. But it's more than just a year as the title would have you believe because there is so much more to this school. There is the history of the town to be considered. The view of education that has laid the groundwork for where the school is, and even the groundwork for several of the children's lives who play main roles in this narrative.

But it seems hard to call it just a narrative. Written in a very conversational manner calling it a narrative almost makes me think that I'm trying to tell you about a well-researched piece of fiction when, in fact, that is not the case. This is a real story and, in a way, that makes what is written all the more poignant. Not everything ends happily or even magically. Bad things still happen and people still struggle and don't always come through victorious. I suppose, in a way, that makes the victories that are seen that much sweeter.

The story, in many ways, felt all too brief. I wanted to read more. I wanted to become more immersed in the story and the lives of these children and their teachers. I pray the best for them and wish that there was something I could do to help any school facing such a situation. I suppose, in many ways, that that is exactly what this book is meant to do. And it does it very well. Education is something that should be taken seriously before it becomes too late to reserve any damage which negligence does to it.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best non-fiction reads like a novel, and this book did not disappoint. I had the good fortune of getting to know David Hay at Fall Brook School here in my hometown of Leominster, first as a community representative and then as a parent member of the school council. Ron Perler truly captured the essence of this amazing educator, and paints a moving portrait of the teachers, families, and students of Brookside School as they struggle with the demands that high-stakes testing places on them. Though my part-time job at the library during college developed into a full-time passion, I hold a degree in elementary education, and have remained interested in educational issues, especially as the parent of a child who struggled mightily with math all of his school career and had to pass the MCAS to graduate. In a book about education, there were so many "teachable moments"... and the one that really resonated with me was Ron's section talking about the author of Connecticut's statewide testing program and how upset he was that the system he devised as a prescriptive aid for teachers has morphed into one of the many monsters lurking under the "No Child Left Behind" umbrella. Every year at this time, I think back to my 4th grade teacher's "Wildflower Contest" and often wonder where that would fit into today’s classroom. Sadly, maybe not anywhere, and yet today I can still name so many of the wildflowers that come up in the spring because of Mrs. Going. This remarkable and beautifully written book will hopefully add to a national conversation that we desperately need to have about the state of education in America.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good so far. Important book.

This documents a bunch of what happens during a poor urban Connecticut elementary school year during one year, particularly focusing on one 5th grade class, both teacher and students. The author got deep, personal commentary from teachers, administrators, and actually went to a bunch of the kids' homes and what is happening there. It's sad and occasionally hopeful. This is reality. I don't agree with everything the teachers and reading specialist do here, but it is abundantly obvious the low test scores and academic struggles of the students are not some easy thing to remedy with young teachers who "care more" earning merit pay for test scores. An organized anti-public education movement is successfully pushing false premises as fact.

It's a lot like a PBS documentary of a year inside a Washington D.C. high school. A film crew actually went to an urban Washington D.C. high school for the 180 days of the school year. The resulting documentary is "only" 4 hours (two 2-hour segments), and is very, very good. It aired for the first time last fall.

Here's the link to the two-minute trailer online. And the two full episodes are available to watch online in the menu right beneath the viewing window. This is how my wife and I watched it.
http://video.kued.org/video/2330321036/

Here is a short article about the film.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesf...

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author spent a year observing at a "failing" elementary school in order to write this book. He covers all perspectives - teachers, administrators, students, parents, people involved in the school in all kinds of ways. You can really feel the stress and hard work, as well as the love and joy of being in a school every day.
If you are a teacher you really don't need to read this because you live it. It's kids and co-workers and situations you've already been through just with different names attached. The book doesn't necessarily offer any solutions to the myriad problems presented, but it does give a fair and accurate picture of the present state of our schools. Who does need to read this book? Parents of school children or anyone else who cares what our future will look like if our kids aren't properly educated.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love it when I stumble upon books like this -- narrative accounts of the real lives of educators and students in schools. This one was very promising. The set up of the school being a "failing school" led me to think that either we were going to see educational magic despite the data or else a skewering look at how policy can stymie otherwise terrific teachers.

But neither of those story lines played out here. While funding problems and the crazy pressure to raise scores were certainly at play, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of creative thinking or energy or passion at work either. I did like the fact that the author was pretty invisible in the narrative, but I also wish there had been a bit more suspense, build-up...something. In the end, I am glad I read this, but I probably won't use it in my classes.

[Booktart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent random pick up at the library. The book essentially chronicles a year in the life of students and teachers preparing for testing under No Child Left Behind. A great read for anyone interested in the impact of NCLB (and standardized testing in general) on school curriculum, teachers, and students, funding issues and how they impact schools, what it is like to be a teacher/administrator in a school in an underserved community, the challenges that teachers, administrators and children in low income communities face, and the general love of teachers for their students. A mixture of uplifting and heartbreaking. I'm interested in all of these topics so this book was really a page-turner for me!

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raising the Curve gives a true perspective of the triumphs and challenges of "failing" schools. Mr. Berler spent a year at Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, CT. I got to know (and like) the dedicated principal, a fifth grade teacher, the literacy specialist and the librarian and a few of their students.

This book is special to me because I was raised in Norwalk,CT (the elementary school I attended closed) and now my child attends a "failing in the eyes of NCLB" Title 1 school in another state. My child is receiving a quality education in a warm and caring environment, much like the one I read about in "Raising the Curve".

I hope this book is read by many.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the title sounds bleak. Oh my. Do we really have forty-five thousand failing public schools? Impossible task, really, isn’t it?

Or so it can seem. And when it feels impossible, teachers seek out inspiration, inspiration like the kind found in this book by Ron Berler about a school where administrators and teachers work to bring out the best in children and improve the school, not with new programs and new instructors, but by using the best of what works.

Read this book, teachers, and you can face another day in the trenches.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a journalist who spent a year working as an unpaid teacher's aide at an elementary school in Connecticut. The school was in a low-income, minority neighborhood. It's the story of how NCLB changes the way teachers teach. This one was very interesting (and read like a novel - I finished it in one day).

[Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in education and learning. Telling the story of standardized tests, arbitrary standards of success, and budget cut decisions (and their consequences) through the personal experiences of teachers and students makes this highly politicized issue easier to understand.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a couple of minor quibbles with my ARC of this book, but am hoping most of those kinks will be worked out in final editing, because the majority of it was pretty great. Full review will follow after publication (reviewed for Library Journal).

[Kelli Prichard · Rating 4 out of 5]

eye opening look at what administrators, teachers, librarians, students go through while trying to reach No Child Left Behind and common core standards. highly recommend. it really changed my point of view on standardized tests and the emphasis we place on them.

[Kenneth Chanko · Rating 2 out of 5]

A straightforward, not always elegant recounting of a year in the life of a public school in Norwalk, CT, focusing on fifth grade students, their teachers, and efforts to raise test scores. Worth a read for those interested in the subject.

[Greynomad · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent look at what NCLB has caused in the education system. Bush has caused more problems within the span of 8 years then the last 10 presidents.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

For teachers, this is terribly depressing. Work hard, push the kids yourself and the kids to exhaustion, lose it all in the end.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor kids. Poor school. Poor results. No solutions. An ok read, but adds nothing to the field.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book on one elementary school dealing with NCLB. I hope to use some of the ideas in tutoring and helping children learn to read.

[Lamchood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow read didn't get a chance to finish it before due back.

[Diane Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every teacher and parent needs to read this book. It's an easy read with great characters. Shows the impact of standardized tests on a variety of school personnel.

[Kate Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read... Especially since I live in Norwalk.

[Stevie Booth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all it was a boring read.

[William Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Just what is a failing school?" the author asks from the beginning, but I don't think we ever get a true answer because they all look so different. Test scores are all the dept. of ed sees, but I could show you some great schools with low scores and failing schools with high scores, so it's more than numbers. Great scattered observations by Berler, but again, like so many other ed books, it's either utter doom or some new fantastical way of changing the system overnight. Even though the message is positive here, I get the sense of doom with the broad approach of this book. The one take-home solution is that we should raise the bar, but the book's focus on test scores and department of ed evaluations irks me. Maybe that's the problem? Maybe teachers and administrators being told how and what to teach from every direction is another contributor? Maybe an unfair math emphasis and a discrimination of the humanities and arts? The problem is so complicated. I just wanted more of an emotional look at the inside of this school.