The Ron Clark Story

In 1998, Ron Clark – known for his innovative teaching methods that leads his students in raising test scores – leaves North Carolina to look for a new job in New York City. After some time working as a waiter, he eventually settles on an elementary school in inner Harlem – a teaching elementary institution where students are sorted according to their potential. His first days as a sixth-grade teacher were stressful, as he faced resistance from some of the disruptive students of the sixth grade – listed with the lowest of their grades – who disregarded or outright ignored Clark. At one point, he vents his frustrations at 12-year-old Shameika Wallace by repeatedly slamming her table when she and many other students continually disrespect him.

While touring around New York City with Marissa Vega, one of his colleagues from his restaurant job, Clark initially considered resigning but eventually returns to teaching after Marissa convinced him to stay. He spent several months teaching basic curriculum all while improving his relationship with his students by making deals and engaging in their hobbies. This frustrates Turner, who relies on the class gaining scores for the local government to maintain his job as a principal.

Clark discusses the Revolutionary War in his creative style of rapping, enticing his students to join along. He offers Tayshawn Mitchell to meet up at a coffee shop at noon but walks away when Julio Vasquez also arrives at the coffee shop, leading to an altercation against Julio for perceived favoritism; Mitchell's foster parents subsequently demands Tayshawn be sent to juvenile detention. At Shameika's apartment, he helps her cook dinner for her and her siblings while she is completing her homework. While this warms up her relationship with Clark, Shameika's mother demands Turner that he should fire him, but Clark convinces her mother to give her a chance.

While discussing science in an effort to get them to pass their test after failing the previous one, Clark falls ill from pneumonia and is hospitalized. While at Marissa's house to rest himself, he and Marissa record themselves video lessons for the students to learn while being observed by Turner. Returning to school, he discovers that while some of their test scores have improved, other papers received lower grades, which it won't be enough for them to pass the state exams that is set to happen in a week. After participating in the state exam, Marissa tells Clark that her colleague Jason has a job audition in Los Angeles and asks him for advice. Clark buys the students tickets for The Phantom of the Opera in Broadway, but notices that Tayshawn didn't turn up. Clark finds him in a nearby alley, beaten up and thrown away by his alcoholic foster father for painting their wall of the Phantom, and comforts him, before he is sent to Turner's house to take care of him while he searches for someone to look after him.

A few months pass, while Clark presents his students awards, Turner reveals to Clark and his students and their parents that the sixth grade has passed the state exam, scoring the highest awards than any other class in Harlem. The invigorated and ecstatic students thanks Clark for his selfless determination to inspire their students and starts rapping about the Revolutionary War while Marissa and several other parents looked on.

The postscript states that his students went on to attend the prestigious schools. Ron Clark's own teaching school is set to open in Atlanta. He remains personally close with his students and their families.

• Matthew Perry as Ron Clark
• Melissa De Sousa as Marissa Vega
• Patricia Idlette as Devina
• Ernie Hudson as Principal Turner
• Hannah Hodson as Shameika Wallace
• Brandon Mychal Smith as Tayshawn Mitchell
• Micah Stephen Williams as Julio Vasquez
• Bren Eastcott as Badriyah
• Jerry Callaghan as Ron Clark, Sr.
• Aaron Grain as Jason
• Marty Antonini as Howard
• Patricia Benedict as Jean Clark
• Vashon Baker as Student/Valedictorian