THE LOTTERY - documentary on charter schools.

[mzteris]

(received this in an email today. Excellent or those who truly want to know more facts about this debate.)

In a country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, The Lottery uncovers the failures of the traditional public school system and reveals that hundreds of thousands of parents attempt to flee the system every year. The Lottery follows four of these families from Harlem and the Bronx who have entered their children in a charter school lottery. Out of thousands of hopefuls, only a small minority will win the chance of a better future.

Directed by Madeleine Sackler and shot by award-winning cinematographer Wolfgang Held, The Lottery uncovers a ferocious debate surrounding the education reform movement. Interviews with politicians and educators explain not only the crisis in public education, but also why it is fixable. A call to action to avert a catastrophe in the education of American children, The Lottery makes the case that any child can succeed.

We must not abandon public education, but we must rethink it and reconfigure our efforts to produce the schools and talented young people that we need for the future. Even both national teacher unions, NEA and AFT, support charter schools. Here are some good examples of quality charter schools that are getting things done for children where others hadn’t succeeded (click the names):

· Achievement First Schools, Connecticut/NY

· Friendship Public Charter Schools, Washington, DC

· KIPP Schools. One of KIPPs most successful school operators is Ryan Hill, a UW-Madison graduate from Beaver Dam, WI who started KIPP Team Schools in Newark, NJ.

· Public Prep, New York, NY

· SEED School, Washington, DC

· Uncommon Schools, New Jersey/New York

· Urban Prep, Chicago, IL – Sent 100% of its graduating class of young men to college

· Also, learn about New Leaders for New Schools and Teacher U.

·
If you want to learn more about charter schools, visit U.S. Charter Schools or the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools.


Where it's playing: http://www.screenvision.com/s/showing/TheLottery/

Please get your tickets early to ensure you can get a seat. You can purchase your tickets on-line at www.movietickets.com. The Lottery is a very informative and moving film that you will not want to miss.


edit to add link.

[alstephenson]

1. Get ready.

The anti-charter school crowd will either ignore your post or rip it to pieces. Because, as they will tell you, there are NO GOOD CHARTER SCHOOLS. None. And ALL charter schools are evil.

[alstephenson]

2. See? You got your first "unrec" already.

[mzteris]

4. people fear what they don't understand. n/t

[mzteris]

3. I'm not going to get drawn into a debate

about it.

Too many have absolutely NO first-hand knowledge. This might help inform some people.


edit *#(* typos

[alstephenson]

5. I understand your motive.

But some people just don't want to be informed.

[madfloridian]

7. Yeh, all us stupid teachers know nothing about education.

[laughingliberal]

9. Obviously. Why would teahers know anything about this?

:sarcasm:

[donco6]

12. I've seen a few good ones.

A couple here in Denver. One serves former dropouts and gets them back on some kind of postsecondary plan. Another serves monoligual Spanish kids who arrive in high school. They're doing good work.

Most of the others I've seen are pretty ho-hum.

[madfloridian]

6. Guess who the film features??? Oh, my. my

You see, only the finest charter leaders are featured. One-sided. oh yeh

http://thelotteryfilm.com/about

"Geoffrey Canada is the President and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone, which The New York Times Magazine called "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time." In 2005, he was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and World Report.

Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is a member of numerous boards and advisory committees that are committed to education including: Democrats for Education Reform, Columbia University Teachers' College Board of Trustees, and the Black Alliance for Educational Options.

Candice Fryer is a teacher at Harlem Success Academy 2.

Betsy Gotbaum was New York City's Public Advocate from 2001 to 2009.

Meredith Gotlin is the principal of PS29 in the Bronx.

Joel Klein has been the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education since 2002. As Chancellor, he oversees 1.1 million students, the largest public school system in the country.

Jim Manly is the principal of Harlem Success Academy 2.

Eva Moskowitz is the founder and CEO of Success Charter Network, which runs the Harlem Success Academies. She served as the Chair of the Education Committee for New York's City Council from 2002 to 2005.

Jessica Reid is a teacher at Harlem Success Academy 2.

Susan Taylor was editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine from 1981 to 2000. Ms. Taylor was called “the most influential black woman in journalism today” by American Libraries in 1994. She founded the National CARES Mentoring Movement, whose goal is to recruit one million adult mentors.

Dacia Toll is the President and co-CEO of Achievement First, which runs seventeen charter schools in Connecticut and New York.

Paul Tough is a former editor at New York Times Magazine. He has written extensively on poverty, education, and the achievement gap. He is the author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's

[Luminous Animal]

8. I won't unrec (I rarely do) but I will put one of those schools in perspective

Why is Urban Prep touted as a success when 85% of its 11th grade students could not meet or exceed state standards?

Urban Prep per Hannah Bell's research...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7913205

PSAE (State testing) scores, percent meeting standards:
Reading: 24.6%
Math: 12.7%
Science: 8.5%

Percentage of 11th grade students meeting and/or exceeding state standards:
Urban Prep: 15.3%
District Aaverage: ~30%

Students/teacher:
Urban Prep: 13.5 to 1
District average: 19.5 to 1

Percent low-income students:
UP: 79.6%
DA: 83.4%

We starve public schools of funding, turn public assets over to private education speculators who dangle fabulous educational conditions in select charters as the norm for the entire charter movement. If the type of education, such as low teacher to student ratio, parental involvement, corporate donations, etc., are good for charters, why aren't these things spread across all public schools?

Also from the thread...

Corporate support for Urban Prep
The Bacchus Foundation Joseph and Pat Henry
Barton P. Cohen & Mary Davidson Cohen Char. J.E. Dunn Construction Co.
Ray and Linnea Brock James B. Nutter & Co.
Commerce Bank Jewish Heritage Foundation
Bill & Dorothy Curry Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association
Doug & Pam Curry Kauffman Fund for Kansas City
Curry Family Foundation Kenneth L. and Eva S. Smith Foundation
Davis, Bethune & Jones Charitable Foundation Mendon F. Schutt Foundation
Education for Kansas Foundation Milbank Manufacturing
James and Patricia Ericson Morgan Family Foundation
Francis Family Foundation Bob & Dianne Priest
George K. Baum Foundation Sosland Foundation
H & R Block Foundation St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Nancy Hawley Stanley H. Durwood Foundation
Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City William T. Kemper Foundation
Helen S. Boylan Foundation Frank & Virginia Young

[laughingliberal]

10. +1000000. eom

[donco6]

11. Yeah, I've seen the trailer.

I've been to the Harlem Children's Zone and seen Promise Academy.

The school teaches to the test pretty much exclusively. I really dislike the pedagogy. But I admire Canada's zeal for wanting to change his community and for recognizing the importance of the school in that endeavor.

However, this movie will simply suggest one "solution" for all the ills of education: charters. And I disagree completely with that assessment. You can see how this "solution" is promoted by reviewing the RTTT grant criteria, all modeled after a scaleable spin up of the Promise Academy. That's a huge mistake. Each community has to come up with its own solution. If it's not organic, it's not going to solve the real, unique problems of the community. Further, until each community owns it's share of the problem (as opposed to the school owning 100% of it), nothing's going to change. The school only has the kids for about 6.5 hours (if they come to school at all). The community has to work with the school to make the effort coordinated and seamless. Focusing solely on creating more charters will not accomplish the goal they want to achieve.