Abstract: The documentary, Closing the Achievement Gap, is now available on VHS and DVD. Originally broadcast on PBS last year, this award-winning film tells the story of Amistad Academy, a public charter school founded in 1999 by a group of Yale Law School students who enlisted the help of local leaders. Amistad serves about 250 primarily minority students in grades five through eight who enter school, on average, more than two years below grade level. By the time they leave the school at the end of the eighth grade, most of the students perform as well or better than their white suburban counter parts. "America’s biggest public education challenge today may be the persistent and dramatic achievement gap between black students and white students. If we could close that gap … and truly equalize educational achievement between the races, most of our other socioeconomic debates would just go away," says journalist Clarence Page, the film’s narrator.
Resource Type: Other Resource Format: Multimedia Resource Topic: Community Involvement (Family-Community Involvement & PR), Accountability, Achieving Standards, Equity
Print
This Page