Ron Berler

Journalist Ron Berler discusses spending a year at Brookside Elementary in Norwalk, Connecticut, sitting in on classes, strategy sessions, and even faculty meetings as teachers look for the chance to improve the school’s failing scores on the annual statewide standardized test known as the CMT. In Raising the Curve: A Year Inside one of America’s 45,000 Failing Schools, he looks at why the school is classified as failing—like so many others across the country—and how the faculty is working to turn the school around.

During the 2002 Little League World Series, millions watched on TV as two young pitchers each threw well over a hundred pitches during their semi-final games. That many pitches from ...