Summary: What shapes a child's identity-situation and surroundings, or unchangeable factors within the child? This program weighs in on that question by capturing the emotional and psychological development of 25 boys and girls at age five. In fascinating and sometimes disturbing scenes, the children reveal clear signals about their self-worth and their expectations for the future that bear strong...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite its horrific destruction, Hurricane Katrina gave New Orleans educators the opportunity to reinvent a school system that wasn't working. This program chronicles the first official year of public school in New Orleans after the storm and the transition to the widespread use of charter schools in the city. Focusing on predominantly African-American schools, the film examines the situation...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: For one in five students, learning is an exhausting and frustrating struggle. Often mistakenly called “lazy” or “stupid” by their teachers, classmates, and even their families, these children may be suffering from debilitating learning problems. If not addressed, the problems can have a devastating impact on the students' self-esteem and future academic and social success. This documentary...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002
View online at AVOD
Summary: Issues of race and class have turned the college experience into an obstacle course that is deterring many of America's brightest students from graduating with a four-year degree. This video counters cultures of low expectation and social isolation with three stand-out initiatives that are helping students get into college-and stay in. Featured in this video are: the Meyerhoff Scholars Program,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 2007, the first Arabic language public school in the U.S. opened in New York City, generating a tidal wave of controversy. This program follows the Khalil Gibran International Academy's turbulent beginnings; the political firestorm that culminated in the resignation of Debbie Almontaser, the academy's founding principal; and Almontaser's legal battle to get her job back. The compelling...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Are advocates of the intelligent design theory really creationists in disguise? To what extent has the I.D. argument widened America's cultural divide? And if a clear winner emerges, who loses? This program thoroughly examines those questions, describing the theory's quasi-scientific origins and documenting the Pennsylvania court battle over teaching I.D. in biology classes. A historical...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This multi-segment program focuses on the world of education as it addresses aspects of how to conduct sociological research. After defining what exactly constitutes research, the video defines the concepts of reliability, validity, and representativeness through a study of social interaction in schools; sheds light on essential ideas in survey research via a study of educational inequalities;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Over 100 million children worldwide have never spent a day in school. One in four does not complete even five years of basic education. Now, 182 nations have promised to provide access to free and compulsory education for every child in the world-by 2015. To test the reality of that sweeping commitment, this Wide Angle installment profiles children in Japan, Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Romania,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The 2009 installment in Wide Angle's Time for School series reenters the lives of seven students in seven different countries, offering a glimpse of the worldwide battle to get what most American children take for granted: a basic education. These riveting case studies in India, Afghanistan, Kenya, Benin, Brazil, Japan, and Romania feature young teenagers embracing academic challenges that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 2003, the Wide Angle program Time for School profiled children in seven countries-Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania-as they started their first year of school, often in the face of great adversity. Three years later this Wide Angle episode returns to visit each child, updating the progress of their educational and personal development. The similarities and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Confronting one of the most complex and potentially divisive issues on the American cultural landscape, this ABC News program examines the intellectual and political forces that support the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. The video focuses on the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that has generated widespread enthusiasm-and criticism-for making I.D. part of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: James Comer, M.D., M.P.H., has spent decades promoting a focus on child development as a way of improving schools. In this interview, he and Hedrick Smith analyze the Comer Process, a school- and system-wide psychosocial intervention grounded in conflict mitigation, behavior modeling, power-sharing, and all-around involvement of teachers, parents, students, and other stakeholders. "Our program...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Originally titled The Battle of City Springs, this fascinating case study profiles City Springs Elementary-a Baltimore school nearly closed by the State of Maryland until it implemented a rigorous teaching method known as Direct Instruction. Filmed over an entire year, the film documents the progress made by City Springs students as they struggle to build reading and math skills-and their...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this interview, Anthony Alvarado, the dynamic architect of controversial principal-centered educational reforms in New York City and San Diego schools, and Eric Smith, Ed.D., who has risen to national prominence as superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Anne Arundel County school districts, join Hedrick Smith to describe their methodologies and examine the results of their policies...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this interview, Robert Slavin, Ph.D., talks with Hedrick Smith about Success for All, a comprehensive, research-based reading and math program for elementary and middle schools. The most important objective, says Dr. Slavin, "is to get every single child to be successful, every single child to master the basic curriculum, to achieve the higher-order objectives that every parent would want...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. In this interview, KIPP co-developer Michael Feinberg joins Hedrick Smith to discuss the program-a reform initiative created as a model for middle school reform, starting in fifth grade. The purpose of KIPP? "To provide kids...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, adequate preparation for college-level study is not an option for the majority of America's public-school students. This program exposes the educational "sorting machine," the factors that mold a child's academic future, through the case of a set of twins from Nevada: one, an academically oriented high achiever who is encouraged to take honors classes, and the other,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
View online at AVOD
Summary: To have a shot at college, students must first believe they can get into college. This program shows the positive things that can happen when the dream of a college education is nurtured in classrooms and communities where expectations previously had been low. By spotlighting innovative approaches for motivating and teaching children-from the Upward Bound initiative in Cleveland that can only...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
View online at AVOD
Summary: A smattering of self-styled experts believe they can assign IQ levels to the world's racial groups. Even if their data were beyond reproach, what does that say about IQ testing? Is it objective or socioeconomically biased? British journalist Rageh Omaar searches for answers in this thoughtful, globe-spanning program. Recounting the turmoil Dr. James Watson stirred up with his 2007 remarks on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: High Schools That Work is the nation's first large-scale effort to unite educational stakeholders at all levels with the objective of re-engaging what some have called the forgotten majority in U.S. high schools. In this interview, founding director Gene Bottoms, Ed.D., talks with Hedrick Smith about the HSTW program in general and Corbin High School, Kentucky-an exemplary case study-in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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: Myths, misconceptions, and the march of time have obscured the true origins and legal details of Brown v. The Board of Education. This fascinating program connects viewers with the people, places, events, and ideas that shaped the landmark civil rights case. Interviewees include Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of lead plaintiff Oliver Brown; Zelma Henderson, who, until her death in 2008, was...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Sixteen students search for knowledge, fun, love, sex, and a path to a rewarding career as this documentary tracks them through one academic year at The University of British Columbia. Partying, clubs, and sports compete head-to-head with classes and sleep-but campus life is only one part of this compelling story. The other revolves around that age-old transition from child to adult known...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Do American schools adequately prepare students to take part in society? Can a complacent, ill-informed public trace its problems back to the nation's classrooms? This program examines the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on the ability of public education to involve students in civic and governmental processes. Filmed in economically and culturally diverse schools, the program includes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008