Adequate Yearly Progress

I would give it 3.5 starts. I really did enjoy this book. As a high school teacher, all of the references -(exaggerated just a bit) to state testing, beginning of the year themes, how districts use funds for new trends, football in the South, teacher stereotypes - were 100% relatable. There was a lot of humor and it was an easy read. With that, I think the writing was particularly effective with character descriptions. I actually wanted more of that throughout the book, which is why my rating was a bit lower than it might have been. I will definitely read Elden's other novel.

I am a teacher in a public school and have been for the past sixteen years. It is like someone sat in my school, every day, for all these years, and then wrote a documentary.

And this is fiction.

I can't rave about this book enough. I loved it. I hated it. I laughed out loud and quoted passages to other teacher friends and teared up at passages detailing the struggles of students.

Every teacher should read this. Everyone curious about the struggles of teaching in public school should read this.

Adequate Yearly Progress is set in a public school dealing with the myriad problems they face. It is written with rotating perspectives by chapter so you get to see things through the eyes of several teachers and administrators. And it treats all the players with respect while still showing the darkly humorous idiocy of many decisions. It shows admin struggling under missives of a board office and their series of initiatives that make little sense and shows how teachers try to follow all the rules while still actually educating. It shows new hopeful teachers struggling with the cynicism of some colleagues as well as helping students with family issues.

It shows everyone preparing for an outside audit and the fear that creates (while still trying to actually educate students). We see the struggle of maintaining a personal life and balancing work, worry about others, and the vying for funds with charter schools.

In short, it is the teaching experience. While it's fiction it is also, quite literally, the most accurate portrayal of teaching I have ever read.