You have to see this film: “Rise Above the Mark.”
It was produced and written by educators and friends of public education in West Lafayette, Indiana.
It is professional, compelling, and honest about the challenges facing children, schools and teachers today.
The team interviewed Pasi Sahlberg, Linda Darling-Hammond, Marc Tucker, me, and others. But more importantly, the film interviews teachers, students, parents, and principals. It shows how today’s policies are crushing teachers and driving them out of teaching.
I saw the movie at a public showing at Butler University in Indianapolis. It is powerful.
You can go to riseabovethemark.com and find out how you can sign up for a copy of the film and show it at your school and to your community.
See it.
You will be glad you did.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I spent a little time looking but don’t see an obvious way to sign up to watch the film (and I would love to). My eyes aren’t so good at finding things sometimes though. Anyone else see something I do not?
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The site now says that the film will soon be available on DVD and that the producers will soon post information about obtaining a license to screen the film.
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Diane, Reuters has a “special report” on how charter schools pick their students:
“Students may be asked to submit a 15-page typed research paper, an original short story, or a handwritten essay on the historical figure they would most like to meet. There are interviews. Exams. And pages of questions for parents to answer, including: How do you intend to help this school if we admit your son or daughter?
These aren’t college applications. They’re applications for seats at charter schools.
Charters are public schools, funded by taxpayers and widely promoted as open to all. But Reuters has found that across the United States, charters aggressively screen student applicants, assessing their academic records, parental support, disciplinary history, motivation, special needs and even their citizenship, sometimes in violation of state and federal law.
“I didn’t get the sense that was what charter schools were all about – we’ll pick the students who are the most motivated? Who are going to make our test scores look good?” said Michelle Newman, whose 8-year-old son lost his seat in an Ohio charter school last fall after he did poorly on an admissions test. “It left a bad taste in my mouth.”
Ms. Neuman should sue. Her son has a due process right to petition to remain in an Ohio public school, regardless of “admission scores”
At least I hope he still does, unless charter lobbyists have changed our state code again 🙂
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-usa-charters-admissions-idUSBRE91E0HF20130215
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“Shortly after the school year began this fall, Michelle Newman got a call from The Intergenerational Charter School in Cleveland, Ohio. A spot had opened up in a third-grade classroom, and her 8-year-old son, Lucas, was first on the waiting list. Administrators said he could enroll after he took an exam.
The exam, part of a two-hour assessment, included questions drawn from state standardized tests. It didn’t go well. Lucas was still in summer vacation mode and balked at some math problems, his mother said.
Still, she said she was shocked when the principal called a few days later to say Lucas could not enroll because staff had determined that he wasn’t academically or developmentally ready for third-grade – even though he was enrolled in the third grade at his local public school, where he remains.
Charter schools say they take everyone, “but they didn’t take him,” Newman said. “It’s not really about educating all children.”
Duncan’s DOE specifically pushes these “intergenerational charters”.in Ohio Are they so clueless that they don’t know that the school is selectively admitting only the children they believe will do well?
Why would the US department of ed be endorsing this? They have no idea what’s going on in these charters they’re pushing. It’s lazy and irresponsible that they’re promoting this without the slightest due diligence.
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I would not describe charter schools as public schools. They are publically funded schools that are privately run, independent of the local school board and local district schools, at least here in NJ.
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Looks great, but I can’t find how to sign up for a copy on the website.
There are too many good films that many of us don’t get to see. We don’t all live in major markets.
We need more availability for the battles we’re fighting.
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Click here for the website for the movie.
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Here’s the trailer for “Rise Above the Mark”. If you click on YouTube’s name, right-hand lower corner of the video’s frame, that will take you to YouTube where you may also watch the other two, longer trailers for this documentary.
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Thanks! I definitely want to see this now and can’t believe I have never heard of it before today!
And thank you, Diane, for bringing it up!
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The film had its first showing in February and isn’t even available on Amazon (yet?).
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Another documentary that is a must-see is Shadows of Liberty about the media and how it was taken over by corporations, privatizers, and others with a political and money agenda. It had its first showing in Chicago last week at the Northwestern Law School . It was stunning and very upsetting. John Nichols, Danny Glover, Amy Goodman, Julian Assange, and many others you all know were in it. You cannot have a democracy without a free and open media–and we don’t have that. It’s indirectly related to education in the sense the corporate media indoctrinates us with how bad teachers are, the unions, our pensions, all of it.
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Go read about who funds the McNeil -Leher report on PBS. It will make you sick.
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I had the privilege seeing Rise Above the Mark at Butler and the discussion panel afterwards (wish I was a fly on the wall back stage during the movie!). SUCH a good movie! I recommend it to everyone I see, educators and non-educators alike. It is a powerful look at the impact our “reformers” have on our students, their families, educators, and schools. To make a change, the communities need to get more involved. This movie is a step in that direction.
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I am interested in obtaining a copy of this film, Rise Above the Mark, to show to LWV Seminole and Orange County, SCCPTA and Florida residents in general. Please advise as to how I can obtain a copy for purchase or download. Time is of the essence, with our legislature in session, defunding public schools and supporting Charters a I pen this.
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Patricia, go to website Riseabovethemark.com and learn how to get a copy
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Diane, here’s to your speedy recovery!
I contacted you several years ago when I was in Finland with my Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching research project. I would like your help promoting the showing of Rise Above the Mark. We will show the movie at Mary Gage Peterson Elementary School, 5510 N. Christiana Ave, Chicago on Thursday May 29th at 4:30 pm and 7:00 pm. Following each viewing we will have a panel discussion about the challenges raised and any action steps we can take. Please help us spread the word. Thank you!
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