Are American Schools Preparing Students for the 21st Century?

Are American Schools Preparing Students for the 21st Century?

PBS to Air Examination of American Education to Stimulate Election Season Dialogue

NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The race for president is not the only race Americans should be focused on this fall. Another race looms, one with significant implications for America's future: the race to remain economically competitive. A new documentary starkly illustrates the challenges of this race and hopes to focus the nation on this issue, as a namesake TV program half a century ago focused the nation on science and technology.

The question of whether we are preparing our young people to compete in this race is central to WHERE WE STAND: AMERICA'S SCHOOLS IN THE 21st CENTURY, a documentary produced by WLIW New York for PBS. The program looks at American public education through the prism of real schools, administrators, teachers and students, and seeks advice from a range of experts on how to fix problems such as low math and science literacy, unequal resource allocation and decreasing college graduation rates. WHERE WE STAND also dramatically contrasts public education in the U.S. with education in China and Finland. The program will premiere at 10 p.m., Monday, September 15 on PBS and air throughout the election season on PBS affiliates (check local listings) and at http://www.pbs.org/.

WHERE WE STAND gets its name from the Walter Cronkite program of the same name that aired 50 years ago, right after the launch of Sputnik. The Cronkite program is often credited with mobilizing the country and spawning a major investment in science and technology that got the nation to the moon 10 years later.

"We are releasing this program now because we want to ensure that issues related to education remain at the heart of the presidential campaign. PBS affiliates across the U.S. are also organizing events to further engage the public," said Ronald Thorpe, Executive Producer of WHERE WE STAND. "Ohio will be a key 'battleground' state in this year's presidential contest, and we chose it as our setting because it illustrates both the promise and challenge of educating diverse populations. It also illustrates the fact that our position in relationship to other industrialized nations is not encouraging."

Hosted by Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the program examines four Ohio schools in urban Cincinnati, suburban Columbus and rural Belpre. Woodruff raises tough questions about American education; shows examples of the impact of education policy and funding formulas; and showcases innovative solutions.

WHERE WE STAND introduces students, parents, teachers and administrators whose stories illustrate the challenges and successes of education in America. They include (among others) Bin Che, an educator from China who teaches Mandarin in rural Ohio; Anne Kuittinen, a Finnish exchange student who will get no credit at her school in Finland for the junior year she studied in the U.S.; Cherese Clark, principal of a high-poverty urban school struggling to raise low test scores; and Guadalupe Medina, a student at an experimental STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) school, who completed her high school requirements in two years.

"I have traveled across the country for the past seventeen months and as I talk with parents, teachers, administrators and students, they tell me that something in our educational system needs to change -- by placing effective teachers in every classroom, increasing time and support for student learning and reaching common, rigorous standards our educational system will improve," said Roy Romer, Chairman of Strong American Schools and former Colorado Governor. "WHERE WE STAND shines a spotlight on the complex issues facing American educators and students today. This represents a call to action, not just for candidates and elected officials, but for all Americans."

Leading proponents of education reform, representing a diversity of perspectives, are featured in WHERE WE STAND. They include: Geoffrey Canada, President of the Harlem Children's Zone; John Wilson, Executive Director of the National Education Association; Wendy Puriefoy, Director of Public Education Network; Chester Finn, President of the Fordham Institute; Rick Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Michael Rebell, Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University; and Sharon Lynn Kagan, Associate Dean for Policy, Teachers College of Columbia University.

WHERE WE STAND is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is a production of WLIW New York. Rebecca Haggerty is Producer; Ronald Thorpe, Executive Producer; and Neal Shapiro, Executive in Charge. For more information, please go to http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom. To view the program after September 15, visit http://www.pbs.org/.

About WLIW

WLIW New York is an innovator in broadcasting, production and distribution for public television. A leading producer of fundraising programming for PBS, WLIW brings US audiences the popular Visions aerial series, cultural performance specials like Tango: The Spirit of Argentina, and a 15-part series of cultural documentaries that includes profiles of Asian Indian, Mexican and Polish American communities. WLIW's groundbreaking independent distribution model brings US audiences live daily broadcasts of BBC World News as well as the weekly series Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, Wild Chronicles and Moment of Luxury. WLIW is also presenting station for kids' series Miffy and Friends and Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works. In the tri-state area, WLIW's diverse programming schedule earns the distinction of third most-watched in the country, a destination for viewers of all ages, featuring public television favorites from PBS KIDS to celebrity chefs in the kitchen, enhanced by a rich local public affairs lineup. Two digital channels, WLIW Create and WLIW World, offer more public television favorites 24/7. For more information, visit wliw.org.

Source: PBS

CONTACT: Dennis Tartaglia, +1-732-545-1848,
Dennis.Tartaglia@Widmeyer.com, or Bibb Hubbard, +1-212-260-3401,
Bibb.Hubbard@Widmeyer.com, both for PBS

Web site: http://www.pbs.org/
http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom

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