‘Superman’ tells only part of the story

Charter schools are no silver bullet

Now showing in Rhode Island, Waiting for Superman is documentary about American public education that has been making headlines since September. It tells the story of injustice in America’s education system—a story that teachers and education support professionals have been telling for years.

The film focuses on five students who struggle to find their ideal place in the classroom and their participation in the competition to enroll in charter schools. Along the way, it hits on the role of teachers’ unions, school bureaucracies, and politics.

Charter schools are featured as the “solution” to under-performing regular public schools when, in fact, research shows that two out of every five charter schools perform worse than traditional public schools.

NEA believes that charter schools and other nontraditional public school options have the potential to facilitate positive transformation and foster creative teaching methods that can be replicated in traditional public schools for the benefit of all students.

However, as NEARI President Larry Purtill pointed out, “One of the charter schools featured in the movie has a per-pupil cost of $36,000. What school wouldn’t like to have that kind of funding to spend on each child?”

To a large extent, the film misses the point by over-simplifying complex issues. Ultimately, it lacks the depth and factual, research-based policy analysis required to have a meaningful discussion about what’s best for every public school student in America.

While there are struggling public schools, there are also public schools across the country that help children from all backgrounds reach great academic heights. In them, unheralded teachers are doing extraordinary things every day. Unfortunately, this film did not feature those schools or teachers.

“It was a missed opportunity to shed light on the good that is happening in our public schools. The bottom line is that there is no silver bullet to this complex issue,” said Purtill. “What the film has done successfully is helped to spark a larger conversation about education.”

Smaller class-sizes; increased teacher autonomy and flexibility; higher status for the teaching profession; improved teacher quality and professional development programs; broader support and involvement by parents and the community; adequate tools and resources; modernized schools —these are things research and experience show will improve our nation’s schools.

“All schools should have the tools and resources necessary to help all students succeed – students shouldn’t have to rely on chance or a lottery to get a quality education that prepares them to succeed in life,” said Purtill.