Adequate Yearly Progress

A Novel

By: Roxanna Elden

Narrated by: Roxana Ortega

A debut novel told with humor, intelligence, and heart, a “funny but insightful look at teachers in the workplace…reminiscent of the TV show The Office but set in an urban high school” (The Washington Post), perfect for fans of Tom Perrotta and Laurie Gelman.

Roxanna Elden’s “laugh-out-loud funny satire” (Forbes) is a brilliantly entertaining and moving look at our education system.

Each new school year brings familiar challenges to Brae Hill Valley, a struggling high school in one the biggest cities in Texas. But the teachers also face plenty of personal challenges and this year, they may finally spill over into the classroom.

English teacher Lena Wright, a spoken-word poet, can never seem to truly connect with her students. Hernan D. Hernandez is confident in front of his biology classes, but tongue-tied around the woman he most wants to impress. Down the hall, math teacher Maybelline Galang focuses on the numbers as she struggles to parent her daughter, while Coach Ray hustles his troubled football team toward another winning season. Recording it all is idealistic second-year history teacher Kaytee Mahoney, whose anonymous blog gains new readers by the day as it drifts ever further from her in-class reality. And this year, a new superintendent is determined to leave his own mark on the school—even if that means shutting the whole place down.

spot on

This is a spot on depiction of the state of public education and teaching as a profession. The people steering this ship are clueless about what goes on in the classroom and the challenges teachers face.

Every Teacher Should Read/Listen

I read/listened to this book in 24 hours! I read the book in my sitting time and picked up the audio while I was driving and working around the house!

It was a great way to relieve some of the teacher stress going into the year.

Starts strong

School life descriptions (meetings, class, & requirements) were accurate. Cultural identities seemed forced and inauthentic.

Accurate Yearly Progress

If you ever wanted to know what life is like as a Texas public high school teacher, GET THIS BOOK. I cannot overstate the accuracy of just about every situation described in this story.
Teachers, you will feel SEEN. Non-teachers, you will gain a new appreciation for what we deal with every day.

From A Teacher

As a teacher, I was excited to see a book that could describe what we experience in our daily lives. This book, while it did have some of those moments, felt slightly dragged out. It was difficult getting through some of it.