ALL PROGRAMS...
Our television programs fall into two categories-
1.) Documentaries (1-2 hours in length)
2.) Reports produced for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (8-14 minutes in length)

Below is a complete alphabetical listing of our documentaries which air on PBS and the Annenberg Channel.
For a more comprehensive look at each program click on the icon or "more info" link.

For a complete list of NewsHour reports, click here.

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Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis? Strong evidence indicates that the epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder affecting mostly white, middle class boys is to a large extent man-made, one result of a long-term, unpublicized financial relationship between the company that makes the most widely known A.D.D. medication and the nation's largest A.D.D. Support Group. This provocative documentary will help parents and educators find alternatives to unnecessary labels and powerful drugs. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Caught In the Crossfire opens with the heartbreaking story of Frances Davis. In July, 1993, the youngest of her sons was killed in a shooting incident in the housing project where she lives. He became the third, and last, of her sons to die in street violence. Reflecting on the irony of the question, "do you know where your children are?," she tells Merrow "Mine are in Cypress Hills Cemetery. All of them." Beginning with the Davis' family story, Merrow follows the trail of violence, interviewing both victims and offenders along the way. "Caught in the Crossfire" also examines the roots of the violence that killed Frances Davis' sons and countless other children nationwide. Looking for a remedy, the program profiles the efforts of community activists involved in the search for solutions. This profoundly moving documentary has earned several awards and is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Television and Radio. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk How good is higher education in America today? The competition for admission into certain highly selective colleges and universities may be greater than ever, but the vast majority of American college students don’t attend those schools. And, even if they did, the same question arises: Does the reality of higher education measure up to the dream of millions of individuals and to the educational needs of the nation? This program sets out to answer these questions, taking viewers behind the scenes of American higher education to experience college through the eyes of students, professors and college administrators. Set on four very different college campuses across the country – a private liberal arts college, a major state university, a regional public university, and a community college – this two-hour special examines both the promise and the peril in higher education today.(more info)

Early Learning shows four different approaches to reforming schools: The Accelerated Schools Project, developed by Henry Levin of Stanford University; the Core Knowledge Sequence founded by E.D. Hirsch of the University of Virginia; the Roots & Wings program created by Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden of Johns Hopkins University and used by Ms. Barnes at her school Green Holly Elementary in Lexington Park, MD; and the School Development Program founded by James Comer of Yale University and used by Mr. Brinson's school, Richardson Elementary in Washington, DC.  (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Education's Big Gamble: Charter Schools Serving over 105,000 students across the country, charter schools promise to educate students and to spend money wisely per the agreements of their approved charter. In exchange, they are exempt from most regulations and oversight. But are charter schools gambling with our children and our tax dollars, and avoiding accountability? Or are they changing education for the better? This documentary explores some of the most effective charter schools and some of the disasters in this new territory of public education. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Elementary Confusion reveals that American education lacks both national standards and common sense. The program is a sequel to "Early Learning," which a year ago traced the efforts of first-, second-, and third-graders learning to read and do math. The Merrow Report returned to two of the schools to find out how those same children had fared. Would the children who had not learned to read in first grade now be reading? How much more math would the second- and third-graders have learned? (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Failing Forward "Social promotion" is just the beginning of the story of a seriously flawed system. Even though high schools in large inner cities say that there is no social promotion, transcripts show a different story. Students learn early on that as long as you don't disrupt the class you can pass without doing any work. Any student who shows up and makes some effort can make a passing grade. (Running time: 20 minutes) (more info)

The Fifty Million Dollar Gamble This documentary (based on three years of videotaping in one high school) details the often painfully slow progress of school reform; teachers and bureaucrats squabble, even as some students are making great progress. It's the most detailed look at one of the country's leading education reforms, the Essential Schools Movement, and its founder, Dr. Theodore Sizer. (Running time: 1 hour and 56 minutes) (more info)

First to Worst explores the roots of California's current education crisis, tracing it to the anti-tax movement of the 1970's and 80's and to civil rights lawsuits that aimed to equalize school spending but resulted instead in disastrous funding limits on schools. First to Worst makes clear that the problems with California's schools go beyond facilities and funding. Years of state intrusion into classroom teaching produced educational disasters in the form of teaching fads. Today, California is trying to regain its footing. It has developed high academic standards for all students and a new system of accountability, but academic progress has been slow. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Growing Up in the City Sasha, Paul, Jessica and James attend the same magnet school on the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City. In this three-part series, host John Merrow takes you on an engaging and honest journey inside these young adolescent's lives, who differ in race, gender, and ethnic background. Part I Will the school be "attacked" on Halloween? Do my clothes have the "right" label? Am I pretty enough? This segment of Growing Up in the City explores the fears and pressures adolescents face in today's complex and rapidly changing world– gang violence, the hunger to be cool, boyfriends and girlfriends . . . . told from the heart and in their own words. (Running time: 56 minutes) Part II- Discovering Race How do adolescents struggle with the meaning of color and the discovery that race is becoming a defining issues in their lives? In this segment of "Growing Up in the City", host John Merrow talks with young adolescents about a variety of race-related issues, from dating "one's own kind," to being a young black male in a white-dominated society, to being one of the only white girls at a public school. (Running time: 56 minutes) Part III- Family Portraits This segment of "Growing Up in the City" focuses on the home life of five adolescents, in particular, on the adults who are struggling to raise them. They are typical urban Americans and their dilemmas are age-old: how to help their children combat negative peer pressure, how to teach them city safety without making them overly fearful; when to hold on to their young adolescents and when to grant them the freedom they desire. You may be surprised by the remarkable strength and guiding power of these family bonds! (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

In Schools We Trust This program brings the 150-year record of public education to life. While history tells us that Americans have great faith in public education, it also shows we rarely agree on exactly what public schools are supposed to do. Teach the basics? Inculcate the values of a democratic society? Train workers? Teach social tolerance? In Schools We Trust provides a useful context for understanding today's arguments. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

It's Your Money We spend more than $220 billion a year on public schools, and millions more on lawyers fighting about how we spend it. What are we getting for our money? Citizens of the United States have certain basic rights-freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of the press. These are spelled out in the Constitution. What we are not guaranteed is the right to an education, which is not even mentioned in the Constitution. That means that education is left up to the states, and most states in turn delegate the responsibility to local communities-some 15,500 separate school districts. Conditions vary dramatically within each school district, from "state of the art" to "state of decay," often depending on how much money a community can raise through local property taxes. As "It's Your Money" points out, money makes a huge difference in schools. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Living with AIDS and Teaching Dawn Marcal is 25. She lives in San Francisco. She is HIV positive and has AIDS. Dawn has chosen to do volunteer work in local high schools-- educating students to the consequences of experimenting with drugs and sex at an early age. Dawn is also putting a face on a disease that most everyone has heard about but has not experienced on a personal level. (Running time: 26 minutes) (more info)

Lost in Translation: Latinos, School & Society The extraordinarily high drop-out rate among Latinos is the result of many factors, one of which is language. While language is key, it is only part of the picture. This documentary explores the successes and failures of different types of language programs– English only, bilingual, and dual. Host John Merrow talks to Latino youth and educators to uncover additional reasons many Latino youth are falling through the cracks. Available in both English and Spanish.(Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Making the Grade Unable to find enough qualified teachers for its worst public schools, New York City set up a crash program--one month of training--for 350 men and women. Called 'Teaching Fellows', they're earning $31,500 and getting free tuition toward a Masters Degree, in return for a 2-year commitment. Twelve of the Teaching Fellows were assigned to PS/IS 25, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY. It's a Kindergarten thru Eighth grade school with 750 students. (Running time: 90 minutes) (more info)

The Promise of Preschool with John Merrow For parents, educators, and lawmakers, the promise of preschool is that children will enter school ready to learn, but, in reality, the results are mixed. In America, most parents have to pay for preschool, and quality varies. In France, as in most European countries, high quality preschool is a universal right guaranteed to all children. In this one-hour broadcast, the experiences of four families reveal the range of preschool education available, from an expensive private school, to uneven federal and state programs, to an innovative big-city approach. The challenge ahead is to determine if and how a consistent level of preschool can be offered to all American children, particularly when public schools are themselves in need. (Running time: 60 minutes) (more info)

Promises, Promises For more than a century, educational technology has been promising to revolutionize learning- "education will never be the same"- yet this promise has never been kept. Technology in the 90's is exploding. Why aren't schools keeping up? Our schools have a lot of computers--more than 4,000,000 of them--but unfortunately most schools use computers in limited capacities. "Promises, Promises" presents explanations for this shortsightedness: narrow, rigid thinking; misguided policies; obsolete buildings; and inflexible schedules. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Public Schools Inc. Is it is possible to create world-class schools that turn a profit? FRONTLINE and The Merrow Report join forces with The New York Times to investigate the intertwined fortunes of Edison Schools and its charismatic, controversial leader, Chris Whittle. Through interviews with educators, administrators, and observers on both sides of the debate -- including Whittle himself, this program explores whether the larger-than-life Whittle is Edison's biggest asset or its greatest liability. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Saving the Arts What will be lost if the arts disappear from our public schools? We may be on the verge of finding out, because we're turning our backs on the arts. Lessons learned through the study and direct experience of the arts amount to much more than how to paint, sing, dance or play an instrument. The arts teach discipline, problem solving, cooperation, concentration-a nearly endless list of educational benefits. Adding an arts program to a school's curriculum increases student attendance, participation, test scores and graduation rate--all commonly accepted measures of excellence. Yet when school budgets are cut, the arts seem to be the first to go. This is due to a common misconception, that arts are a frill. At an alarming rate, art programs are vanishing from our nation's public schools. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

School Crusade: A Tale of Urban School Reform In 1994, Philadelphia was one of the worst school districts in the United States. Looking for a radical change, the city hired an untested superintendent, a lawyer with a background in theology, David Hornbeck. Hornbeck's "Children Achieving" program was designed to trim the bureaucracy, add kindergarten, introduce technology, create a new testing system, and hold teachers accountable for student learning. But Hornbeck's dream and the reality turned out to be two different things. Part I- The Dream This program outlines the principal ideas behind Hornbeck's "Children Achieving" program and the obstacles to its implementation. It shows how Hornbeck's honeymoon with the city turns sour as heavy opposition develops, politicians block crucial funding, and an angry teachers union threatens to strike. Running time: 56 minutes Part II - The Reality How has "Children Achieving" affected Philadelphia schools? In this segment, Hornbeck's program attracts the support of IBM, which introduces a comprehensive technology program in three schools, including Clara Barton Elementary. But not all goes smoothly. Hornbeck invokes a little-noticed provision in the teacher union contract which allows him to declare some schools "educationally bankrupt." He singles out Olney High School and orders the transfer of 75% of its teachers, which outrages students and some teachers. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

School Sleuth: The Case of an Excellent School Approached by a mysterious woman, host John Merrow turns private detective in this tongue-in-cheek drama to solve "The Case of an Excellent School." Private Detective Merrow explores five aspects of schooling: safety, the academics, the physical environment, the adults in the building, and a school's sense of purpose. School Sleuth offers at least 25 practical measures of excellence in education and shows there are many ways to evaluate schools beyond standardized test scores and college acceptance rates. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Searching for Heroes  introduces viewers to six extraordinary people who've dedicated their lives to helping children and teenagers. The six heroes in the program-- a social worker in Dallas, a librarian in Los Angeles, a conductor in Washington, DC, a youth worker in Milwaukee, a grandmother in Orlando, and a principal in Indianapolis-- represent some of the most caring adults in America.(Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

The Search for Values explores the question of how- and where- children are learning their moral values. At the same time, we ask what message our schools are sending if they try to avoid the issue entirely. Are our schools, as one observer said, becoming "...morally dangerous places" for children? Can school be the MEETING GROUND instead of the BATTLEGROUND on which to work out our differences? (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Starting Over Starting over is possible, even in difficult economic times. It takes time and hard work, but it is being done. In fact, starting over will be every worker's job, at some point. The average person has to go job-hunting eight times during his or her life. The average person will change careers at least three times. In other words, don't waste your energy wondering, "What can I do to avoid having to start over?" Ask yourself instead, "What can I do to keep on learning and growing, both in my work and in my life?" Despite the myth that people only contemplate career change in mid-life, 90 percent of those who change careers are not in mid-life. People can and do change careers at all ages. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

A Tale of Three Cities Several major American cities have accepted the challenge of school reform but none with more energy, commitment, and public attention than Philadelphia, Chicago, and Seattle. A Tale of Three Cities tracks the dramatically different approaches– and varying results– of Philadelphia Superintendent David Hornbeck, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and Seattle Superintendent John Stanford. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Teacher Shortage: False Alarm? Why do 30% percent of new teachers– 50% in urban areas– leave teaching within five years? Is the problem one of recruitment or retention? This probing documentary examines several areas that are the result of or may be the cause of the so-called "teacher shortage." Our reporting in Georgia, Texas, and California, among other places, turns up out-of-field teaching; teachers with emergency or temporary credentials; job application procedures that actually thwart qualified teachers; weak, "o--the-cheap" teacher training programs; as well as some successful, non-traditional options like alternative certification and professional development schools. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Teachers Wanted: No Experience Necessary A follow–up program to the "Making the Grade" segments, this documentary revisits the four rookie teachers in the New York City public schools through their first year. These individuals had no prior classroom experience and seven weeks of summer training. It asks the tough questions: Is it possible to learn on the job and be an effective teacher? Is teacher on–the–job training fair to students? (Running time: 56 minutes)

Teaching: The First Year The gap that exists between the vision of a bright-eyed graduate of a school of education and the reality of a first year teacher with his or her own classes is one that must be faced and crossed by all beginning teachers. We've designed this program to help future teachers discover the gap, discuss the gap, and develop tools to help cross the gap when it becomes their time to make that adventure. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Testing Our Schools "Testing Our Schools" explores the closely intertwined issues of Standards and Accountability. Standards are necessary, of course, and so is accountability, but are schools being backed into a corner? If they continue to live by test results, will they die that way? 'High stakes tests,' 'multiple test measures,' multiple opportunities to take tests- How these issues are resolved will shape the future of American public education. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Testing...Testing...Testing Get your number 2 pencils ready because you're about to take a test on testing. Testing...Testing...Testing poses 12 provocative questions covering the complex and controversial issues of measuring learning, achievement and intelligence in children. Don't worry: you won't take this test alone. Six knowledgeable men and women-- test writers, critics, and professors-- have already taken our test on camera. They'll provide the answers to our questions and to your concerns about testing in public schools.  (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Toughest Job in America This gripping story follows Philadelphia superintendent David Hornbeck's six year battle against an entrenched bureaucracy, a stubborn union, hostile politicians, budget deficits, and a deep-rooted belief that poor and minority children cannot achieve. But complicating the story are Hornbeck's own inflexible streak of moralism and his tendency to alienate even his ardent supporters. What led to his eventual and sudden resignation? Can Hornbeck's "Children Achieving" program be judged a success? (Running time: 1 hour and 56 minutes) (more info)

What's So Special About Special Education? Twenty-one years after guaranteeing the disabled the right to go to public school, how well are we educating them? To test our progress, this program follows two disabled girls through a year of Denver's public school system: one, a second grader with autism; the other, a seventh grader with Down's Syndrome. Both students are considered "included," a process required by the legislation to integrate disabled children into regular classes and activities. But does access to regular classes ensure an equal -- or even adequate -- education? (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)

Young Scientists with John Merrow High school students conduct serious independent research in anticipation of competing for millions of dollars in awards and scholarships in the world's largest science fair, Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair. (Running time: 56 minutes) (more info)