Product Details

• Actors: Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee
• Directors: Davis Guggenheim
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount Vantage
• DVD Release Date: February 15, 2011
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (162 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003Q6D28C
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #987 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #9 in Movies & TV > DVD > Special Interests
• For more information about "Waiting for "Superman"" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From the Academy Award-winning Director of An Inconvenient Truth comes the groundbreaking feature film that provides an engaging and inspiring look at public education in the United States. Waiting For “Superman” has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of five unforgettable students such as Emily, a Silicon Valley eighth-grader who is afraid of being labeled as unfit for college and Francisco, a Bronx first-grader whose mom will do anything to give him a shot at a better life. Waiting For “Superman” will leave a lasting and powerful impression that you will want to share with your friends and family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

182 of 215 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why are we failing? How do we succeed?, October 8, 2010

By 

David Diez (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting for "Superman" (DVD)

One of the most remarkable components of the film was the discussion of a proposal of Michelle Rhee -- the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools system -- to pay teachers in the district up to $140k based on merit, if tenure would be ended in the district. In the world capital of democracy, the teacher union leaders refused to let this proposal go to a union vote.

This short story is nestled into the middle of the film but describes the flavor of the rest of the movie. "Waiting for 'Superman'" is a shock and awe that delivers convincing arguments that good teachers are what matters to student learning but the U.S. school system cannot let shining stars shine or fire the bad apples, and the worse-off neighborhoods are hit the hardest. One of the major arguments of the film is that teacher tenure* has to go. It makes its case for each point with facts, figures, clear arguments, and examples. The film intensely wraps it all together with emotional connections to a half-dozen students followed through the film, each hoping to literally win the lottery and get a spot in a top charter school.

The film isn't all attack, and it shows several success stories in the form of top charter schools. Many of these schools have graduation rates of nearly 100%, and nearly all students go onto college. Interestingly, many of the charter schools take students who were already behind and from neighborhoods with schools that are classified as drop-out factories (where a minority of students graduate).

"Waiting for 'Superman'" examines the problems, and it shows what is possible.

See this film. Understand the issues. Push for reform.

- - -

* Tenure started with professors at universities. However, professors are never guaranteed tenure when they start their positions, and it typically takes about ten years -- "ten-ures" -- before they earn it. Many never achieve it. Yet K-12 public school teachers who have been only teaching for three years at the same school can achieve tenure, and they don't even have to go through a review to be granted tenure.

88 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We have to be our own Superman, October 10, 2010

By 

Robin (Bethesda, Moldova, Republic of) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting for "Superman" (DVD)

In Waiting for Superman, David Guggenheim's riviting documentary about America's school systems, he asks the question many parents have been asking. If our teachers are central to the performance of a school, how can we reconcile poor performance with an uncritical view of teachers? Are bad schools only in slums? Can children brought up in poverty excel in school?

Waiting for Superman is not an attack on teachers. If anything its a testament to the critical importance of good teachers. Guggenheim's research shows the amazing effect that good teaching can have on a very large population of students. But he also presents the corallary. Just as good teaching saves lives, bad teaching destroys them. And unfortunately Americans have allowed a system to develop where good teachers get no rewards and bad teachers are almost never fired. The problem is not necessarily spending. We have more than doubled our per student expenditures since the 1960s (even adjusting for inflation) and are turning out graduates who are not college ready.

Guggenheim follows the history of American schools showing how up until the 1970s American public schools were the best in the world. He shows how the lack of global competition made us look awfully good. Unfortunately schools need to be better then they were fifty years ago, when they were expected to turn out high school classes where 20% of the kids went to college. Nowadays schools need to turn out graduating classes where just about everybody is ready for a four year college--and very few school districts are doing it. To make the story hit home, Guggenheim profiled several students waiting to get into Charter Schools, schools which are run by different rules than most public schools, and have a history of success. Watching these children observe the lottery that will determine whether they can attend, will break your heart.

He also profiles Michelle Rhee, the take-no-prisoners Superintendent of the Washington, DC school system. As someone who lives right outside of DC, I have watched Rhee and applauded loudly as she has taken on every special interest that holds back education in Washington, DC. The movie showcases her wins in improving DC test scores. Unfortunately it misses the final chapter of Rhee's career, the defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who put his own career on the line, in the interest of the children of Washington, DC. Rhee's future in DC is unknown but the incoming Democratic candidate for Mayor, who will run unopposed in November, supports many of the practices that Rhee fought. As Rhee sadly points out, much of this problem is adults not wanting to confront other adults.

50 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is this not an Oscar contender?, February 15, 2011

By 

Robb Sanchez - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Waiting for "Superman" [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I am a documentarian and have been for years, so I am not easily affected by films. I saw this film just because I see a lot of docs. I have no children and Waiting For Superman, on paper, would not seem to be anything out of the ordinary for me. Just another film, right?
No, it is so much more: I cried, yes me... I cried and was shaking at the size and scale of our problem we have here.This film was easy to follow, in-depth and hit me so hard, that I took action. I am now a mentor and hope to set 1 child's life in the best possible direction it can be in. I wish I could do more, but for now 1 child is where I am starting from. The one drawback of this film: DO NOT SEE IT IF YOU ABSOLUTELY DON'T WANT TO BE AFFECTED and DRIVEN TO HELP OTHERS. You will not walk away from this film the same person.