Some of us have spent our lives working on behalf of children and teachers who teach children. /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] /MC0 37 0 R Teachers in this country want to make a difference in the lives of kids. 100 percent of the kids pass the science regions. /Rotate 0 And what the teachers wanted in Washington were the tools and conditions for them to do their jobs. We can't wait and talk about this another seven, eight, ten years. He's a Grammy award winning songwriter. These are our communities. Statistical comparisons are made between the different types of primary or secondary educational institutions available: state school, private school, and charter school. That's amazing. You think it was about -- let's be respectful. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vergosa, Andrew. Your last really big film was "Inconvenient Truth." Let's go there and talk to the president of the American federation of teachers, Randi Weingarten. /Font << 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. There are also comparisons made between schools in affluent neighborhoods versus schools in poorer ones. You tried to change things and chances are good, because of it, you're going to get fired. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The contract says she has to go. And Im not going to pretend that you can just come in and snap your fingers and things are going to get better overnight. 40 years later we're still fighting for equality and one of the biggest barriers to achieving quality is the fact that so many kids in our country can't get a great education. Why were you frightened to send her to school. The filmmakers deliberately kept the camera on certain students and their families, like Nakia and Bianca, in order to show how those who did not get into charter schools felt extremely disappointed and emotional because they had hoped to be accepted into a schoolthat would not fail them. And what teachers have told us is that focus instead on the tools and conditions we need to do our jobs. /T1_1 20 0 R 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. Waiting For Superman was more widely released than any other documentary, and among the highest-grossing documentaries of 2010. Our guests will include Governor Chris Christie, Newark Mayor Corey Booker and U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan. I'm joking. This is why. 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. 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. >> Since many charter schools are not large enough to accept all of their applicants, the selection of students is done by lottery. So even though we may disagree about that, what this film does, it creates a moment in time. I knew -- as Davis said, I knew what was going to happen before she knew what was going to happen. DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: No. Explain to me how that is good for children. RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRES., AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Sure. Weve seen some innovation spread more than one place. Waiting for Superman, a documentary about the mediocre public school system in the U.S., uses both techniques to great effect. /T1_0 52 0 R They asked Rhee whether the pressure on teachers led them to cheat. DEBORAH KENNY, HARLEM VILLAGE ACADEMY: Well its what we're doing and a lot of the schools around the country are doing when they're given the freedom, which is what the charter gives you to accomplish these results. /Resources << BRZEZINSKI: Why didn't they add up? endobj >> CANADA: Well you know what? You believe it. Through the stories of five children who wanted to attend a charter school, the film shows how one child was accepted and another child was accepted from the wait list while three children were not accepted at all. I mean, from my perspective, it really seemed like what was scary to people was this idea of beginning to differentiate folks. /MC0 62 0 R BRZEZINSKI: It was still painful. The film recognizes how the American public plays an important role in helping to accomplish the reform goal of making American public schools great. 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. BRZEZINSKI: How old is she? /Properties << 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. And this is not America, the idea that one kid could have a great education and one kid can't. (END VIDEO CLIP) BRZEZINSKI: And there are kids that don't make it. Because we talked to Randi before. All you have to do is listen to people in Washington about it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lets get started. WEINGARTEN: Theres nothing wrong with what Geoffrey just said. The attendance and the schools itself. [17] The Wall Street Journal's William McGurn praised the film in an op-ed piece, calling it a "stunning liberal expos of a system that consigns American children who most need a decent education to our most destructive public schools. We're going to lose our nation. Ultimately they want the tools and conditions in order to do that. We can run the school the way we want, which is to give our teachers the power to teach. /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] [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. LESTE BELL, DAISYS TEACHER: She chose her college and she wrote a letter to the admissions and asking them to allow her to attend their college. SCARBOROUGH: John Legend, final thoughts? Waiting For Superman has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of the struggles students, families, I went up there, Jeff Zucker pushed me to go up there one day. /Properties << An examination of the current state of education in America today. GEOFFREY CANADA, PRES. 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: Is that a fair shot, Randi? endobj BRZEZINSKI: Im sorry, we have news for our audience as well. SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second. The second thing is, I think the frustrating thing to me about panels like this, when we get going we have to stop. One of these amazing children is a boy named Anthony. BRZEZINSKI: When we come back, we'll talk more about that. /ArtBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text ] Because we do understand if we're going to fix this problem, we're going to have to figure out how to get you guys together and make this work. "[23], Author and academic Rick Ayers lambasted the accuracy of the film, describing it as "a slick marketing piece full of half-truths and distortions" and criticizing its focus on standardized testing. SCARBOROUGH: All right. /GS0 18 0 R CANADA: Can I just tell you this? SCARBOROUGH: Right. Why is that such a frightening concept? 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. But do you think Michelle Rhee was trying to improve the performance of the teachers in her district, was she trying to make the schools better? /Filter /FlateDecode BRZEZINSKI: Nakia, thank you. << /BleedBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] Where you tried to focus on good teachers in Washington. We have to take ownership. BRZEZINSKI: When we come back, we'll be joined -- SCARBOROUGH: One thing we do agree on -- BRZEZINSKI: We have to go. And we're going to figure out, we're going to get people together here. I actually have teachers in my family who really think is this is a terrific movie because it exposes for them how complicated it is, how important it is to get great teachers in the classroom and what a difference they can make. People couldn't believe you could do it. 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. NAKIA: The public schools in my neighborhood don't add up to what I want from her. So let me say, because I get told a lot that Im teacher bashing. WebWaiting for Superman/Transcript. We need to get involved and take ownership over this and go to the schools and tutor, go to the schools and mentor. /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageC ] David Guggenheims Waiting for Superman looks at how the American public school system is failing its students and displays how reformers have attempted to If I have kids, I don't want kids to be in this environment. BRZEZINSKI: Randi, really quickly. I have a 12-year-old that goes to public school. It's about figuring out what works in charter schools and exporting that across America. In fact you come off quite badly. Everyone in this room is feeling something powerful tonight. I think we all have to look in the mirror and say, what have we done wrong up until now and what do we need to do better? WEINGARTEN: The issue in terms of education is there's no turning back on reform in education in Washington, D.C. Our union is committed to it. There's a cap in New York State because ultimately when George Pataki and I and others started to work on having charter schools in this state, there was an issue in terms of the economics and what would happen with moneys in terms of other districts. Thank you for joining us. GLORIA: Im just so afraid for him. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see the cages up here. SCARBOROUGH: Okay, Michelle -- WEINGARTEN: We agreed at times. As part of lifting the cap they wanted to make sure that there was accountability for everyone. I want to talk about New York for one second. 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. GUGGENHEIM: When the media asked me to make the film, I originally said no. >> 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. I get to meet all the wonderful teachers out there. WEINGARTEN: Look, we have schools in New York, like the school that Steve Barr and I run, which has a union contract, we're 100 percent of the kids path the math regions. 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). Walk in and I still want every kid to win. This film follows five children and documents them to see what their lives and schools are like. I want to be a doctor and I want to be a veterinarian.