Recently, filmmaker Shannon Puckett, seeded by kickstarter, produced a solid documentary on educational reform entitled "Defies Measurement."
As it happens, a principal focus is Chipman Middle School in Alameda, California, a school where one of my friends' kids attended back in its golden era. Or perhaps I should simply say "its era." It was an outstanding middle school which was destroyed by the No Child Left Behind Act, and, as that act intended, got replaced by a charter school.
I was alerted to this film by this blog entry by David B. Cohen on the Education Week website.
This movie is viewable and downloadable at the Vimeo site here.
In addition to the movie itself and the fine commentary by David Cohen, I'll add a few thoughts of my own below the squiggle. Actually, though, I encourage everyone to view the film itself. It packs a lot into a short (one hour) running time.