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For Immediate Release

Contact:
Cara White: 843/881-1480  carapub@aol.com
Mary Lugo: 770/623-8190   lugo@negia.net

PBS Goes In the Classroom with Hedrick Smith’s
“MAKING SCHOOLS WORK”

Primetime Special Looks at Successful Strategies
Transforming America’s Schools from Coast to Coast

What’s the Secret to Revitalizing Unsuccessful Schools?
How Can Schools Raise Test Scores, Inspire Students and Teachers, and Create a Consistent Climate of Achievement?

Produced by Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award Winning Journalist Hedrick Smith, “MAKING SCHOOLS WORK”
“MAKING SCHOOLS WORK” Initially Broadcast Nationwide on PBS
Wednesday, October 5th from 9-11 P.M.

(Washington, DC) — PBS presents Hedrick Smith’s MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, an important and inspiring two-hour special that looks at American school systems across the country that are transforming the way students learn, motivating and empowering teachers and all students — including low-income, minority students — raising test scores and providing a road map for other school systems nationwide. Revealing success stories from elementary, middle, and high schools, MAKING SCHOOLS WORK is essential viewing for everyone concerned about America’s schools and our children’s future. A production of the Emmy Award-winning Hedrick Smith Productions in association with South Carolina ETV, MAKING SCHOOLS WORK first aired nationally on PBS on Wednesday, October 5th at 9 P.M. EST

“No topic worries American families more than the quality of our schools,” says producer and host Smith, whose company has produced over 40 hours of prime-time programming for PBS. “In 1983, a blistering report warned that our schools were failing. Ever since, we’ve been searching for solutions. Four presidents have made education a high priority, driven by the demands of a high tech economy, global competition and the poor showing of our students on international tests.

Sixteen years ago, we were told the U.S. would become “world champions” in math and science. Instead, our 15-year-olds score below average on international tests in 2003; our 4th graders scored lowers than 11 other countries in math and our 8th graders scored lower than 14 other countries.

Such disturbing results have spurred the U.S. to greater ambitions for its schools. From World War II into the mid-1980s, American was content to prepare some 25% of our children for college and put the rest on a general education track that often led to nowhere. Our system was mass education for a mass production economy. But the new economy demands much higher performance from all— from health technicians and computer programmers to factory workers using computer-guided machines and clerical workers processing insurance claims. If we don’t want to export jobs overseas, we have to jack up the quality of education for everyone.

In fact, some schools and communities have done just that — raising quality significantly. MAKING SCHOOLS WORK with Hedrick Smith takes a rare look at educational success stories, not just for a school here and there but more than a million kids from inner cities to rural America. We take you into classrooms from coast to coast to see how some American communities are making schools work. There’s no magic formula; they all use different strategies. But the common denominator is results — lifting scores and closing achievement gaps.

MAKING SCHOOLS WORK examines four school reform models with excellent results — an elementary reading program; a charter middle school; a program targeted at troubled communities; a high school program connecting applied and academic learning. It also shows district-wide reforms in Charlotte, N.C., former District 2 in New York City, and San Diego. Experts comment on what works and why.

With 92,000 schools and 47 million students, America cannot afford to reform its schools, one by one. We must scale up with high-quality education. So leading educators urge us to learn from schools that work, to multiply their gains, and to refine and improve their methods. For even the best are not perfect. But they offer an escalator upward for most of American’s children.

MAKING SCHOOLS WORK is Executive Produced by Hedrick Smith, with Senior Producer Rick Young and Producer Sarah Colt. Directed by Rick Young and Sarah Colt. Written by Hedrick Smith, Rick Young and Sarah Colt.

For more information, visit www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork