A decade ago, Brockton High School was a case study in failure: only a quarter of the students passed statewide exams and one in three dropped out. Then, Susan Szachowicz and a handful of fellow teachers decided to take action. Through a restructuring committee, work with the teacher's union and bringing all the teachers slowly on board, they emphasized reading and writing lessons into every class in all subjects, including gym. When requests got too difficult, the restructuring committee responded with "Let me help you." And success is there, starting in 2001 and continuing today, showing that a 4,100-student school can overcome all odds and offer a good education.
