A new documentary, “Left Behind: the story of New Orleans public schools,” is debuting this week at Canal Place. I urge everyone to check it out. I am curious to discover what the filmmakers have learned.
According to The New York Times, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), forced schools to reduce class time spent on other subjects (science, art, history) and eliminate them all together for some low-proficiency students.
NCLB depends entirely on standardized testing to measure student advancement. Studying for standardized tests is not the same as asking questions and learning to think independently.
Robert Stenberg, the dean of arts and sciences at Tuft University, states that the “massive” amount of standardized testing is “one of the most effective, if unintentional, vehicles this country has created for suppressing creativity.”
A survey, by the independent group, Center on Education Policy, found that since the passage of the federal law, 71 percent of the nation's 15,000 school districts have reduced the hours of instructional time spent on history, music and other subjects to open up more time for reading and math.
At Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School in Sacramento, about 150 of the school's 885 students spend five of their six class periods on math, reading and gym, leaving only one 55-minute period for all other subjects.
"Only two subjects? What a sadness," said Thomas Sobol, an education professor at Columbia Teachers College and a former New York State education commissioner. "That's like a violin student who's only permitted to play scales, nothing else, day after day, scales, scales, scales. They'd lose their zest for music."
According to the filmmakers of NCLB, their new film chronicles the corruption, controversy and failures of New Orleans city schools premieres Tuesday, December 5th at Canal Place Cinemas at 7:30 pm. A second screening at Canal Place is scheduled for Wednesday, December 6th at 7:30. Admission is $10 and seating is limited.
The 90-minute documentary, Left Behind: the story of the New Orleans Public Schools, follows three High School seniors through the 2004 and 2005 school years in one of the worst public school systems in America, before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.
A limited number of tickets will be available each day of the screening, December 5th and 6th, at 5 PM at the Canal Place Cinema Box Office. The show starts at 7:30 PM each night.
The directors and some of the people featured in the film will be present at showing for a short question and answer session immediately after the show.
Academy award-winning writer and producer of Crash, Bobby Moresco, is executive producer of the film. The music is composed by Rolfe Kent, composer for Sideways and Wedding Crashers.
I will be there on Tuesday and hope to see everyone out there!
More information, as well as the movie trailer, is available online at: New Orleans Left Behind
For more information contact:
Mandy Vincent 504-913-6819 leftbehindmovie@gmail.com
or
Jeremy Cooker 504-247-4181 leftbehindmovie@gmail.com
posted by The Green Clover @ 3:15 PM
2 Comments:
The larger issue of NCLB is ripe for debate and I hope change as we see more and more of its products (the children) entering our society and taking positions in the nations work force.
As a docent at the Aquarium of the Americas I have seen one response to the lack of science in New Orleans. For several years now the aquarium has been offering the cities young people an opportunity to interface with its staff and animals by way of our outreach Aquavan which visits schools and with our aqua kids and aqua corp programs of bringing school age kids into structured aquarium enrichment programs. Since Katrina the aquarium volunteer program has opened to high school age students who have been recommended by their schools as having sufficient interest and maturity to function in a more adult capacity at the aquarium.
It is true the kids participating as volunteers, aqua kids and aqua corp are generally screened for higher than average levels of maturity and interest in science. But the Aquarium also reaches a more general audience by accomodating school field trips and with the aqua van.
My point is this: while the debate rages and will continue to go on and on about how to administer resources for public education we must all look for opportunities to help fill the gap. How many young people do you include in your interests and hobbys. Are you an artist, photographer, wood worker, roller girl? There are kids out there for all of us to mentor.
Sea otter,
Bravo for the A of A programs, but, your work as a docent obviously keeps you too busy to read. Perhaps you should check out the premier blog (September) from this blogger, before you make assumptions about what she does and doesn't do. I have known her half her life and if the A of A program inspires and mentors as many children and young adults as she has helped find their creatvity and mentored so far, my own son included, it will be an amazing successl!
Post a Comment