How do you get past that? National Assessment of Educational Progress, Bill Gates Goes to Sundance, Offers an Education, "How Davis Guggenheim's Documentary 'Waiting for "Superman"' Will Further Fuel the Education Debate -- New York Magazine - Nymag", "Waiting for Superman Movie Reviews, Pictures", "How did 'Waiting for 'Superman's' ' Davis Guggenheim become the right wing's favorite liberal filmmaker? Waiting for 'Superman There are also comparisons made between schools in affluent neighborhoods versus schools in poorer ones. The film criticizes the American public education system by following several students as they strive to be accepted into competitive charter schools such as KIPP LA Schools, Harlem Success Academy and Summit Preparatory Charter High School. SCARBOROUGH: Okay. One of them is Nakia. "[7] On Metacritic it has a score of 81% based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The principal wants her to stay. It just came out this week. << WEINGARTEN: The issue in terms of the D.C. election was our members and others really like Vincent Gray. One of these amazing children is a boy named Anthony. "[11] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, calling it "powerful, passionate, and potentially revolution-inducing. There is a perception out there that is the union that is standing in the way of principals firing bad teachers. BRZEZINSKI: Why not inspire them with pay? If you look at what the Kipp schools have done or the uncommon schools, they've been able to replicate this model over and over. That's what our union has been trying to do for the last two years. I think sometimes there's a disconnect between them. It's going to be mommy's job to get you another school that's better. So even though we may disagree about that, what this film does, it creates a moment in time. WEINGARTEN: Look, what the unions actually talked about was as part of lifting the cap, as part of lifting the cap, they didn't fight against lifting the cap -- LEGEND: Yes, they did. >> SCARBOROUGH: All right. One of the things we were thinking about, we were covering songs from the civil rights era, from the '60s and '70s and people who fought for justice and equality. Where you tried to focus on good teachers in Washington. They have to go see this movie and have smaller conversations like this. But it's not just Harlem -- if my movie, I call it, they're breaking a sound barrier. /CropBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] /Contents [ 9 0 R 10 0 R 11 0 R 12 0 R 13 0 R 14 0 R 15 0 R 16 0 R ] Don't make -- Im tired, man, I wake up at 3:30 in the morning. The film is extremely eye-opening, showing just how bad a state most of our education systems are in. /Properties << NAKIA: The public schools in my neighborhood don't add up to what I want from her. There are core values we have to have. "[21] Melissa Anderson of The Village Voice was critical of the film for not including enough details of outlying socioeconomic issues, writing, "macroeconomic responses to Guggenheim's querygo unaddressed in Waiting for "Superman," which points out the vast disparity in resources for inner-city versus suburban schools only to ignore them. SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it. How do we spread that from Harlem across America? The film follows several families as they attempt to gain access to prominent charter schools for their children. Because I seen what you do, Ive seen what Deborah Kinney has done, Ive seen what a lot of people have done out there and it seems to me, the model is find an extraordinary person, put them in a school, let them run that school. 1h 51m. Make sure the tenure is not ever construed as a job for life. These students range in WebWaiting For Superman (871) 7.4 1 h 51 min 2010 X-Ray PG The lives of five Harlem and Bronx families in the high stakes lottery for access to New York City's best charter RHEE: I'm just wondering, if the AFT was putting a million dollars into mayoral campaigns all across the country just based on who the teachers liked, I would buy that argument. Waiting for Superman LEGEND: Who your state senator is. SCARBOROUGH: Right. And I was hurt. By the nature of who my family is. And she thought I was crying because it's like Santa Claus is not real and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us. This is a transcript of "Waiting for Superman". But Id like -- I think there is a disconnect here that John Legend talks about. By Stephen Holden. And when you say that, people say you're attacking teachers. /Resources << You cannot say -- you can't say, well, the problem with charter schools is they only serve some of the kids when in fact you are advocating for caps on those effective charter schools. BRZEZINSKI: Randi, really quickly. We're turning to you now. And we're going to figure out, we're going to get people together here. What happened there? I think if we actually got to what constitutes a good teacher and had that kind of standard we'd all be in the same place on that and there are about 50 or 60 districts right now, I made a proposal in January about how to overhaul evaluation. LEGEND: We need to be clear, you know, sometimes it sounds like everybody is on the same team up here because we all sound like we agree. It affects good teachers, too. The attendance and the schools itself. I'd like to follow up by asking you, that on "MEET THE PRESS" this morning, you said the union has taken steps to make teachers better, taken concrete steps. }>=Uw2cS=V. I9kZJw^EAOd j]Y[wl-e06E#/mlyTbE9f}@8 a/ ^} "Waiting for Superman" ( Superman & Lois), an episode of Superman & Lois. The film assumes that any student below proficient is "below grade level," but this claim is not supported by the NAEP data. He's a Grammy award winning songwriter. But I think we have to get a layer deeper than just the platitudes that remain on the stage. 9 0 obj The movie's major villains are the National And this is not America, the idea that one kid could have a great education and one kid can't. I went up there, Jeff Zucker pushed me to go up there one day. This isn't some Hollywood drama or a romance flick. schools. [37] It criticizes some public figures featured in Waiting for "Superman", proposes different policies to improve education in the United States and counters the position taken by Guggenheim. /Filter /FlateDecode RHEE: Yes, that's right. And I always -- Im at screenings all across the country. SCARBOROUGH: You were on the board for Harlem Village Academy. The film portrays the deep sadness that Bianca and her mother feel when Bianca is not accepted into the charter school as the two embrace one another at the end and Nakia dries her daughters tears (Guggenheim 1:37:35). /ExtGState << First, I loved that town hall today. RHEE: It was actually 12 percent that were proficient in reading but he picked the better statistic because actually, only 8 percent of our children were proficient in math. RHEE: What I think it comes down to, people underestimate we did from the school system side everything we need to do. Now, a couple of years ago, an independent group called Ed Sector actually surveyed a whole bunch of teachers and asked teachers the question about whether they needed or wanted a union. /CropBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] BRZEZINSKI: All right. I get to spend a lot of time with the kids. stream So we're going to differentiate and we're going to recognize and reward the highest performing teachers and we're going to look at the lowest performing teachers and we're going to remove them from the system. RHEE: Were not going to be able to solve the problem going one city at a time. << ANTHONY: Its bittersweet to me. In this incredible movie, "Waiting For Superman," Davis Guggenheim introduces to us some of the heroic parents who struggle to provide a better future for their children. Why were you frightened to send her to school. /MediaBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] But I do think though Davis even though we may disagree there wasn't a public school or a public school teacher that was pictured in this film, people have done amazing jobs. People -- but this room needs to get bigger. 8 0 obj We can't achieve equality or humanity and justice for everybody if we can't make sure that every kid gets a good education. I support public schools. I went up to a school up there. The issue is, and we saw it and heard it in the town hall today a lot, we need to have instruments like they do in every other business to effectively judge and assess teachers. And systems that actually help create continuous improvement. [39], There is also a companion book titled Waiting For "Superman": How We Can Save America's Failing Public Schools.[40]. I want the system to be better. I want to say something about what John just said. SCARBOROUGH: This is a civil rights issue? I don't care what I have to do, I don't care how many jobs I have to obtain but she will go to college. Waiting For Superman has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of the struggles students, families, TRANSCRIPT: WAITING FOR SUPERMAN PANEL They want to know what good teaching looks like and they want to emulate it. /CropBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] You said OK we're not going to penalize bad teachers. The most influential scene during this segment is when one of the students, Bianca, and her mother, Nakia, wait for Biancas name to be called as the lottery nears the end. I know you have to say your side of this and this is hard for all of us. You cannot say we want more resources to go to kids when in fact in this city, Joel Klein is spilling $100 million a year to pay for teachers you saw it in the movie, who aren't actually teaching. /T1_0 24 0 R John leads the show me campaign which is dedicated to raising awareness and highlighting successful schools. We spruced up -- modernized the building. Randi we'll let you get a response in here and also, Mika, what we're going to do is figure out where everybody agrees. Davis, god bless you. The reason is because we're allowed to give our teachers freedom and then hold them accountable for results. >> But this is the issue that I think Ive been hearing that I just want to get clear. KENNY: We catch them up to basic level and we accelerate them to proficient. We can't wait and talk about this another seven, eight, ten years. What's the big takeaway from "Waiting For Superman"? I want to ask you another really quick question and then go around to the rest of the panel. >> BRZEZINSKI: All right. CANADA: The thing I think Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg have done, they really looked for people to come into the city who had a proven track record. I get to meet all the wonderful teachers out there. SCARBOROUGH: Why are you going to get fired? So people keep talking about accountability just in terms of firing teachers but what I think people need to understand is how accountability allows you to unleash teacher passion by setting on fire all the teachers in the school because you're allowed to give them the freedom to teach the way they see fit. endobj GUGGENHEIM: The issue is not just lousy teachers. /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] We're feeling a real sense of commitment. BRZEZINSKI: What was wrong with what she was doing? Seventy-eight percent of them, this is not our survey, this was their survey, said a union was absolutely essential to them to try and stop school politics or principal abuses. We're just saying --. SCARBOROUGH: Okay, Michelle -- WEINGARTEN: We agreed at times. What's going on here? "Geraldo at Large." We'll hear from the audience as well. SCARBOROUGH: You also told me that there was a split in the civil rights community, that older members of the civil rights community sometimes fought younger members of the civil rights community who were reformers. /T1_1 57 0 R The bottom line is, you cannot say that you support removing ineffective teachers when then I fire ineffective teachers and you slap me with lawsuits and you slap me with the grievances. A reminder for everyone, coming up right after this program, MSNBC will re-air that teacher town hall that was hosted by Brian Williams, that's from 9:00 to 11:00 Eastern Time, right here on MSNBC. You can't do it with the district rules and the union contracts as they are in most districts. It's happening in Los Angeles. American schools face frequent budget cuts, but its not all about the money. LEGEND: This is a civil rights issue. Waiting for Superman (song), a 2013 song by the American rock band Daughtry. You know, in Washington, D.C., under Mayor Fenty who arguably I think is the most courageous politician we have on these education reform issues, we did everything, arguably, that people wanted to see. When you put a face on this issue, as we talk about the details of it, that's the thing I keep saying to myself, let's not forget as we argue and discuss and learn about this, let's not forget the kids. << Fox News. /Font << WEINGARTEN: Yes. We should let Randi respond. You don't come off well in this movie. Were going to talk to in a second and thats where Jeff Zucker told me I needed to go. Waiting for Superman Broadcast: Saturday, September 25, 2010. Waiting for 'Superman' (2010) | Watch Free Documentaries Online [32][33][34][35][36], A teacher-backed group called the Grassroots Education Movement produced a rebuttal documentary titled The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, which was released in 2011. The film recognizes how the American public plays an important role in helping to accomplish the reform goal of making American public schools great. "[18] Kyle Smith, for the New York Post, gave the film 4.5 stars, calling it an "invaluable learning experience. /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text ] SCARBOROUGH: Thanks a lot, Davis, way to go, man. WEINGARTEN: I live in New York -- RHEE: You put $1 million into a mayoral campaign. I want to talk about New York for one second. KENNY: Right. SCARBOROUGH: Hes like Chuck Yager of the classroom. The union leaderships could take this on as a platform and say this is something we're going to commit to and give our membership behind this so we can show progress in taking on these issues. Ravitch says that a study by Stanford University economist Margaret Raymond of 5000 charter schools found that only 17% are superior in math test performance to a matched public school, and many perform badly, casting doubt on the film's claim that privately managed charter schools are the solution to bad public schools. Michelle, you have been on the wrong side of the debate over here. SCARBOROUGH: OK. You talked about it. In New York City, a group of local teachers protested one of the documentary's showings, calling the film "complete nonsense", writing that "there is no teacher voice in the film. Were here to talk about the movie, to talk about education. 7 0 obj WEINGARTEN: No one, you know, teachers in at least our union would be the first to tell you, we rail against this system in some ways as much as Geoff and Michelle. /Resources << I'm feeling it. It matters who your local representative is. Be the first to contribute. And we have to have everyone, even parents, recommitted, you know, even school officials, district heads, superintendents, unions, all of us have to move off a position of self-interest like I do with my own kids, sending them to private school, like the unions do, I think, preserving the status quo. And that still scared the hell out of the Washington union. Let's do this right now and let's look at the best contract in the nation in terms of eliminating ineffective teachers and let's make that the standard across America. "[13] Variety characterized the film's production quality as "deserving every superlative" and felt that "the film is never less than buoyant, thanks largely to the dedicated and effective teachers on whom Guggenheim focuses. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Take a look at some of the reactions from just a few minutes ago as people watched this movie. 100 percent of the kids pass the science regions. Ravitch said that "cheating, teaching to bad tests, institutionalized fraud, dumbing down of tests, and a narrowed curriculum" were the true outcomes of Rhee's tenure in D.C. /T1_0 24 0 R You have to pull out a bingo ball and call your number. SCARBOROUGH: Davis, let's begin with you. The goal of the film is to create a successful public education system filled with great schoolsthat leave no child behind, andit calls for reform from all of usin order to reach that goal. /T1_0 20 0 R /Resources << /Length 868 Of course, Washington has problems going back decades. Waiting for "Superman" is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott. Trying to hide the fact that I had been balling my eyes out, I said I can't -- I knew how this was going to end and I was still crying.