Summary: In 1983, the Reagan Administration's report, A Nation at Risk, shattered public confidence in America's school system and sparked a new wave of education reform. This program explores the impact of the "free market" experiments that ensued, from vouchers and charter schools to privatization-all with the goal of meeting tough new academic standards. Today, the debate rages on: do these diverse...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the aftermath of the Revolution, a newly independent America confronted one of its most daunting challenges: how to build a united nation out of thirteen disparate colonies. This program profiles the passionate crusade launched by Thomas Jefferson and continued by Noah Webster, Horace Mann, and others to create a common system of tax-supported schools that would mix people of different...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1900, 6% of America's children graduated from high school; by 1945, 51% graduated and 40% went on to college. This program recalls how massive immigration, child labor laws, and the explosive growth of cities fueled school attendance and transformed public education. Also explored are the impact of John Dewey's progressive ideas as well as the effects on students of controversial IQ tests,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the 1950s, America's public schools teemed with the promise of a new, postwar generation of students, over half of whom would graduate and go on to college. This program shows how impressive gains masked profound inequalities: seventeen states had segregated schools; 1% of all Ph.D.s went to women; and "separate but equal" was still the law of the land. Interviews with Linda Brown Thompson...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005