A suburban high school with a mission. What kids are learning in the classroom. Fitting in, getting ahead and other pressures. The first senior class graduates and heads into the world. Sophomores Stephanie Gilman, center, Carolyn Theurer, right, and Steve McKee, bottom right, examine their grades on a geometry test in teacher Terrin Kelly's class.
Many students feel heavy pressure to get good grades and win admission to a preferred college.
T hey have 48 minutes. Even for Terrin Kelly's whiz kids, it's not much time. They sit, heads bowed, brows furrowed, fingers dancing over calculator keys. A paper rustles. From the other side of the room comes the frantic scrubbing of an eraser.