“PASS/FAIL“: The story of two college grads who entered Teach for America and were dumped into DC’s dysfunctional school system. One is Josh Kaplowitz, who wrote “How I Joined Teach for America–And Got Sued for $20 Million” for City Journal.

Excerpts: “Teachers are forever leaving this place: One says she’ll never teach again; another says this wasn’t teaching, it was guard duty; still another never really knew how rewarding his profession could be until he got out of here and into a different system. The principal is gone — demoted, transferred — another name remembered with a grumble and a shake of the head, one of five principals who passed through Emery Elementary School in two years, a roller coaster of raised and dashed hopes. One mom says things are getting much better, but immediately asks for advice on how to get her child out — now.

“…When I asked people to describe what the school was like, three teachers, two mothers and an administrator each separately chose the same words: ‘The inmates ran the asylum.’

“…’Every day for three months, I thought, “This is not working,”‘ Ehrmann says. ‘They curse at you, and, at first, I played the game. I would raise my voice, send them to the office. And they’d be bounced right back to me.

“‘Our school was bereft of a discipline system — period.’

“…’She made it clear that the children were in charge,’ says Wallace, who estimates he spent 80 percent of his classroom time trying to maintain order.

…”‘Mr. Kaplowitz was totally inexperienced,’ Walcott continues, ‘and he thought he could conquer the world. But at least he wanted to push our children. I appreciated that, even if it was threatening to some of our parents.’

“…Meanwhile, two doors away, Nick Ehrmann stood frustrated and disappointed before a room full of children with similar troubles and behaviors. But one of those maddening moments pushed Ehrmann to a breakthrough.

“It happened when his students were supposed to order copies of the class photograph and only three brought in the fee. Something pivoted in Room 312. ‘I just decided they were missing out on documenting their childhood,’ Ehrmann says. So he brought in his own camera and started taking pictures of his students. Every week, he would show the results to the children, and soon, he was encouraging them to make their own pictures.”

Basically, Ehrmann passes and Kaplowitz fails–but the stories of the other teachers, which you only glimpse along the edges of the Teach for America stories, strike me as even more indicative of the system’s crisis. I’d like to read a story about the teachers who stay while new TFA novices cycle through the schoolroom doors year after year.