Seminar 3

American Public Schools in Education Reforms

Presentation 1*: Overview of the movie and the school system in the USA
 Basic information about the film:
o Who made it? When did it come out? What is it about? How has it been
received?
o What schools were portrayed in the film? What types of schools are they?
How were they portrayed?
o What students were portrayed in the film and how?
 Contextualize the film and its arguments by comparing the different types of
primary & secondary educational institutions (state school, private school,
charter school, magnet school) in the US regarding origin, funding, admission,
autonomy and performance
 Using the evidence above to evaluate the argument that (1) public schools are
failing and (2) charter schools are a better alternative than traditional public
schools.
Presentation 2: Review of teachers’ issues
 What teachers and educational leaders were portrayed in the film and how?
 Summarize the claims the film makes about the following teachers’ issues
o Teachers’ role
o Teaching standards, appraisal and tenure
o Teachers’ unions
o No Child Left Behind
 Contextualize the film by researching and describing the context, goals, impacts
and current state of No Child Left Behind and teachers’ unions.
 Using the evidence above to evaluate the arguments that (1) there is inequitable
distribution of qualified teachers, and (2) teachers’ unions are an obstacle to
educational reforms.
Resources

Understanding Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

What Are Charter Schools?
Public and private school comparison (NCES provides a lot of other related statistics)
2022 Teacher Certification
No Child Left Behind Act
‘Highly Qualified Teachers’ according to NCLB
Teacher quality gaps in U.S. public schools: Trends, sources, and implications

Are Teacher Unions a Help or Hindrance to Public Education?

The Impacts of Teachers’ Unions on Educational Outcomes
Prescribed text
Waiting for “Superman,” a 2010 American documentary film directed by Davis
Guggenheim
You can probably download the film from
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ymq0br9mSRYc73w3RT8RDou1-e_8ocp-
?usp=sharing