Author Details A Year At A Norwalk Elementary School

NORWALK, Conn. -- A book by author Ron Berler, who grew up in Westport and graduated from Staples High School in 1967, about a year at Brookside Elementary in Norwalk has been excerpted by the Christian Science Monitor.

"Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America's 45,000 Failing Public Schools" is about Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk.
Photo Credit: *Amazon*

Ron Berler of Westport is the author of "Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America's 45,000 Failing Public Schools."
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

by The Daily Voice

04/03/2013 5:00 a.m.

His book, "Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America's 45,000 Failing Public Schools," was published last month. The Christian Science Monitor details the stories of some of the struggles of the teachers, students and parents to deal with the pressures of standardized testing, budget cuts and increased class sizes.

He was inspired to write the book by his wife, who is Brookside's speech pathologist, and by mentoring troubled boys in her school.

Berler graduated from Northwestern University and wrote weekly youth-issues column in the Chicago Tribune. Later he became senior editor at React, a teen newsweekly published by Parade and editor-in-chief at NBA Inside Stuff, a pro basketball magazine for tweens published by Sports Illustrated For Kids.

Berler says he was first paid to write as a senior at Staples, when he wrote a weekly news-about-campus column for the Westport Town Crier, earning $3 a week.

Read eight vignettes from the book at the Christian Science Monitor website.

Read more about author Ron Berler at his website and read his blog entry here at the Huffington Post.

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