Product Details

• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Studio: HBO
• DVD Release Date: July 8, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001AY6QJY
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,494 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #53 in

  Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > HBO Documentary

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The No Child Left Behind Act was created to boost academic levels of American students by setting standardized goals across the nation - and holding states, districts and schools accountable for performance. For urban schools in high-poverty areas, reaching these goals is a daunting task, and many now face the possibility of being taken over by the state - even being shut down. At Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, MD, the expectations raised by NCLB have reached a critical point. Academy Award winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond (I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School) offer a yearlong look inside a storied institution at a time when its very existence is in doubt. From cautionary profiles to triumphant tales, Hard Times at Douglass High serves as a reminder that education is inevitably an achievement of people, not policy.

This disc is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing Look At Our DysEducational System, June 26, 2008

By	U. Menon "vulcan" (Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I watched this right now on HBO. Every parent should watch this documentary. Even if your own kids go to a good school, you SHOULD make it a point to watch this show. Most kids in this documentary, instead of helping us compete against our Chinese and Indian counterparts, are going to be at the mercy of our tethering welfare system.

This documentary spends no time debating the pros/cons of the No Child Left Behind policy. Rather, it focuses on the daily struggles at a one of the many schools that does not make the grade. Some of the scenes will, without a doubt, shock you; embarrass you and might make you want to reach into the your set and choke a couple of those kids.

To Alan and Susan Raymond ... can you please make a PG version of your documentary ? I am sure some parents would like to show this documentary to their middle-school kids and teach them - how not to go wrong.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome: A must see for every educator, June 30, 2008

By	Willie Muhammad "Truthspreader" (New Orleans, La.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this one day while flipping thru the channels. After watching it I felt as if someone had followed me personally around with a camera at the schools where I worked. I live in New Orleans, but the issues in the school featured in this doc are the EXACT one I and other teachers faced. This is an awesome doc

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Precise Representation of my experience teaching in New York City, April 4, 2009

By	Lindsay Beck "Former NYC Teacher" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I put this on with some hesitation that it might portray troubled public schools in an inaccurate light. It didn't. It was scarily accurate. From 2004-2008, I worked as a special education teacher for a program like Teach for America in Queens. This film conveys exactly what the experience was like for me. It doesn't paint an unrealistically happy picture, nor suggest any solutions to the problems plaguing America's "failing" schools. It just tells it like it is. I highly recommend.