Up the Down Staircase

Sylvia Barrett, fresh out of graduate school, arrives at Calvin Coolidge High School, having just been hired to teach English. On her first day, she finds her classroom has a broken glass window and two broken chairs. When her class arrives, the room becomes crowded with students who are disruptive and undisciplined. One student, Alice Blake, has a crush on English teacher Paul Barringer, but has been assigned to Sylvia's class. Another student, Joe Farone, is an intelligent but delinquent student on court-mandated probation.