Sundance 2010 winner, Waiting for "Superman," is a 2010 documentary film showcasing the real stories of kids in public schools who struggle to earn their promised education. The film follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth. Director Davis Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes," methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems. The film analyzes the failures of the American public education system by following several students as they strive to be accepted into a charter school.

Very powerful and eye-opening. Below is the trailer. (Film is available for purchase or rental).

 


 

"Finding Superman: Debating the Future of Public Education in America," edited by Watson Scott Swail

Finding Superman Book Cover"Finding Superman" is a collection of easy-to-understand essays written in response to the documentary "Waiting for Superman."

''This book is an essential supplement for everyone who saw the movie Waiting for Superman. It makes clear that education improvement is more complex, and requires more change in policy and practice, than Superman ever envisioned. It is a roadmap for more comprehensive transformation of education.''
--Michael W. Kirst, Emeritus Professor of Education, Stanford University

''No one who hopes to participant in and contribute to the contemporary conversation about better teachers, better schools, and better learning for students can afford to pass up this collection. It is a book for educators, but more than that it is a book for all who care about our young people and our nation's tomorrow.''
--Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, The George Washington University and university professor of public service