Waiting For "Superman" Campaign Impact
Since Waiting for "Superman" was first released in theaters in the fall of 2010, our community of parents, teachers, administrators and activists has risen to the challenge and turned a movie into a movement.
Here's what you've helped accomplish:
- Supported more than 2.8 million children through classroom donations, via our partnership with DonorsChoose.org.
- Sent over 45,000 letters supporting innovation and high standards in our public schools to elected representatives and school board members.
- Over 10,000 of you either attended one of our local town hall meetings or viewed it online. (Watch previous panels on Livestream.)
- Hosted hundreds of house parties across the U.S. to screen and discuss the film.
- More than 8,000 signed petitions to school boards on Facebook.
- Thousands purchased the film's companion book, propelling it onto the New York Times Best Seller list.
Your support was also essential in keeping the film — and education — prominent in our national discourse. Here's how education reform has progressed in the past year:
- Former DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee launched StudentsFirst, a nonprofit organization that seeks productive education reform with the interests of students as its primary goal.
- Compton parents exercised the "trigger" option to force change at McKinley Elementary, an historically failing school.
- The students featured in the film visited the White House where President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to helping all U.S. children receive a high-quality education.
- In February, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten proposed changes to the way teachers are evaluated and granted tenure.
- The "Last In, First Out," policy that most school districts adhere to has come under scrutiny and already been abolished in Illinois.
Waiting for "Superman" also received the following accolades:
- Sundance Audience Award, U.S. Documentary
- National Board of Review, Best Documentary
- Producers Guild Award Nominee
- Special Award, American Film Institute
- Critics Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature
- Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award, Best Documentary
- Gotham Award, Festival Genius Audience Award
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award, Best Documentary
- Black Reel Award, Best Song for John Legend's "Shine."
Thanks again for all that you've done.
