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Resource Guide to “Waiting for ‘Superman’”

The documentary “Waiting for 'Superman’” is helping shine a national spotlight on the challenges of public education in the United States, especially in urban communities. To help journalists cover the film and its impact, the Education Writers Association has compiled a resource guide of articles and reports on issues raised in the documentary, as well as links to coverage and critiques of the movie.

In addition to the guide, EWA also offers a list of experts on topics such as charter schools, teachers’ unions, and American education’s standing in the world. We also covered an appearance on May 13 by the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, at EWA’s National Seminar in San Francisco. And EWA staff members Linda Perlstein and Caroline Hendrie blogged about the film after viewing screenings before its release.

The guide is organized into several categories:

Opening dates and locations
Charter Schools
Teachers' Unions and Contract Issues
International Rankings
Harlem Children's Zone
Coverage of the Movie
Featured Schools

Opening Dates

September 24: Los Angeles, New York

October 1: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington

October 8: Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Montreal, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Vancouver, West Palm Beach/Boca Raton

Charter Schools

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools data dashboard

Education Sector’s charter school resource page

The Life-Changing Lottery, Marcus A. Winters, City Limits, Summer 2010

The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts: Final Report, U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, June 2010

Study: On average, charter schools do no better than public schools, Amanda Paulson, Christian Science Monitor, June 29, 2010

Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed, Trip Gabriel, New York Times, May 1, 2010

Growing Pains: Scaling Up the Nation’s Best Charter Schools, Education Sector, Nov. 23, 2009

Spin Cycle: How Research Is Used in Policy Debates: The Case of Charter Schools, Jeffrey Henig, Russel Sage Foundation, November 2009

How New York City Charter Schools Affect Achievement, Caroline M. Hoxby et al., National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2009

Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States, Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, June 2009

Teachers’ Unions and Contract Issues

Teacher Quality: What you need to know, Joyce Foundation

Letter to the Media about "Waiting for 'Superman,'" Randi Weingarten, AFT

NEA President Comments on Release of "Waiting for Superman," Dennis Van Roekel

Teachers, Teacher Quality and Human Capital Project, Center on Reinventing Public Education

Waiting for a Fair Shake: The One-Sidedness of "Superman," Paris Bhayani, Huffington Post,  Oct. 4, 2010

Tell Me More Interview with Randi Weingarten, Michel Martin, NPR, Sept. 29, 2010

Filed Away? Ben Joravsky and Dave Glowacz, Chicago Reader, Sept. 13, 2010

Union Leaders and the Generational Divide, Susan Moore Johnson, Education Week, March 9, 2010

LAUSD’s Dance of the Lemons, Beth Barrett, LA Weekly, Feb. 11, 2010

How Teachers Unions Lost the Media, Richard Whitmire and Andrew J. Rotherham, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1, 2009

The Rubber Room, Steven Brill, The New Yorker, Aug. 31, 2009

Teachers Unions and High School Reform—Are unions a barrier? Mitch Price, Center for Reinventing Public Education, Jan. 2009

Dance of the Lemons Podcast, Selly Thiam, Learning Matters, Oct. 7, 2008

Teachers Unions and Student Performance: Help or Hindrance? Randall W. Eberts, The Future of Children, Spring 2007

International Rankings

National Center for Educational Statistics International Reports Library, compilation of all international rankings reports. See also NCES’s International Data Explorer and  International Activities Assessments and Surveys.

Boston College International Study Center, the U.S. center for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and its data on TIMSS and PIRLS

OECD International Education at a Glance 2010

Education Commission of the States Summary on International Rankings, summary of reports and research on international rankings

The Spaces Between Numbers: Getting International Data on Higher Education Straight, Clifford Adelman, Institute for Higher Education Policy, Nov. 2009

International Exams Yield Less-Than-Clear Lessons, Sean Cavanaugh and Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, Education Week, April 21, 2009

Short Sighted: How America’s Lack of Attention to International Education Studies Impedes Improvement, Alliance for Excellent Education policy brief, March 2009

U.S. Must Learn from International Peers, Report Says, David Hoff, Education Week, March 24, 2009

Harlem Children's Zone

Harlem Children’s Zone website

U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods page

The Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, Grover “Russ” Whitehurst and Michelle Croft, Brookings Institution, July 20, 2010. (Geoffrey Canada’s response is here.)

Hope or Hype in Harlem, Helen Zelon, City Limits, March 2010

Harlem’s Education Experiment Gone Right, Anderson Cooper, CBS News, Dec. 6, 2009

Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, Paul Tough, Mariner Books, Sept. 2009

Harlem Children’s Zone Breaks Poverty Pattern, Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio, July 28, 2009.

Coverage of the Movie

Education Nation and "Waiting for 'Superman,'" NBC News

Not Waiting for Superman, Rethinking Schools

The Real Facts about Waiting for Superman, Fairtest

Waiting for 'Superman': Education Reform Isn't Easy, Andy Rotherham, TIME Magazine, Oct. 7, 2010

'Waiting for Superman' and the Education Debate, Brent Staples, The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2010

'Waiting for Superman' film fuels Dallas panel discussion on improving education, Holly K. Hacker, The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 1, 2010

Strengths and Weaknesses of “Superman,” Mark Phillips, The Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2010

Debate-igniting “Waiting for Superman” to open here Friday, Beth Hawkins, MinnPost.com, Sept. 27, 2010

Fired-up teachers gather at Rockefeller Center to protest “Waiting for Superman,'” Lore Croghan, New York Daily News, Sept. 27, 2010

Answers elusive in film, at MPS, Becky Vevea, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 27, 2010

Schoolwork, Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker, Sept. 27, 2010

Film director Davis Guggenheim hopes to reveal inconvenient truths about schools, Linda Shaw, Seattle Times, Sept. 25, 2010

Waiting for ‘Superman’”: A simplistic view of education reform? Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 24, 2010

Not Everyone Is Waiting for Superman, Danielle Moss Lee, The Daily Beast, Sept. 24, 2010

What Makes a School Great, Amanda Ripley, TIME Magazine, Sept. 23, 2010

Grading “Waiting for Superman,” Dana Goldstein, The Nation, Sept. 23, 2010

Waiting for Superman”—If Only…, Beth Fertig, WNYC, Sept. 23, 2010

@katiecouric: “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” Katie Couric, CBS News, Sept. 23, 2010

Waiting for Superman”: Debate Over Our Schools, George Stephanopoulos, ABCnews.com, Sept. 22, 2010

New documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’” argues against education as a game of chance for America’s poor kids,” Maureen Downey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 21, 2010

Davis Guggenheim, Looking For A Hero At Your House, All Things Considered, NPR, Sept. 21, 2010

Education’s “Inconvenient Truth? Dom Giordano, Philly.com, Sept. 21, 2010

Cracking the Code,” or Ed Reformers on Crack? Michael Petrilli, Education Next, Sept. 21, 2010

'Superman' documentary draws praise, controversy, Dakarai I. Aarons, Education Week, Aug. 30, 2010

Schools in the Documentary and Coverage

The SEED School, Washington, D.C.: Test results. (Select 2010, Report card, Public charter school)

Film's D.C. Student Succeeding in Charter School, Lisa Gartner, Washington Examiner, Sept. 30, 2010

How the SEED School Is Changing Lives, Byron Pitts, 60 Minutes, May 23, 2010

Harlem Success Academy, New York: Test results

The Patron Saint (and Scourge) of Lost Schools, Jeff Coplon, New York Magazine, April 25, 2010

KIPP L.A. Prep, Los Angeles: Test results

Student Characteristics and Achievement in 22 KIPP Middle Schools, Christina Clark Tuttle et al., Mathematica Policy Research, June 2010

Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, Jay Mathews, Algonquin Books, January 2009

Summit Preparatory Charter High School, Redwood City, Calif.: Test results

Getting Geometry: Two schools, two approaches, David Boyce, Almanac News, December 14, 2008

Woodside High School letter from principal David Reilly. IDEA California Educational Opportunity Report cited in movie.