REBIRTH: New Orleans

Cubberley Lecture Series presents the West Coast premiere of REBIRTH: New Orleans, a story of community, leadership, and educational access. 

John Merrow’s latest film, based on 6 1/2 years of filming in post-Katrina New Orleans, reveals how a failing school system has become a fair-to-middling system of public charter schools. The cast of characters in the 1-hour documentary includes Brittne Jackson, a 19-year-old senior who has failed the graduation exit exam about a dozen times; Bobby Calvin, an engaging young man chafing under the harsh behavior code at his charter high school; two Teach for America corps members having dramatically different classroom experiences; and Clarke Bordelon, a special needs student whose mother cannot find a charter school willing to take on the challenge of teaching her son. As the film reveals, real change is possible, but anyone looking for a silver bullet will be disappointed.

The film will be preceeded by a reception from 5 - 6 p.m., and followed by a conversation between John Merrow and Prudence Carter. Merrow and Professor Carter will use the film as a springboard to a broad range of issues. Audience participation will be encouraged.

John Merrow began his career as an education reporter with National Public Radio nearly 40 years ago with the weekly series, "Options in Education," for which he received the George Polk Award in 1982. He is currently Education Correspondent for PBS NewsHour and President of Learning Matters, an independent production company in New York City. His work has been recognized with Peabody Awards in 2000 and 2006, Emmy nominations in 1984, 2005, and 2007, four CINE Golden Eagles and other reporting awards. He is the author of The Influence of Teachers, Choosing Excellence and co-editor of Declining by Degrees. Most recently, he received the McGraw Prize in Education in 2012, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences in 2012, and the HGSE Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education in 2006. Merrow earned a BA from Dartmouth College, an MA in American Studies from Indiana University, and a doctorate in Education and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Prudence L. Carter is Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University. She is also the Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE). Professor Carter’s research and teaching expertise are in the areas of inequality and the sociology of education, with a particular focus on race, ethnicity, class, gender, culture and identity. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 2007, Professor Carter was Associate Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program on Poverty, the Underclass and Public Policy and the Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of the award-winning book, Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White; Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools; and co-editor of Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance. Carter, a product of public schools in Mississippi, earned a BS from Brown University, an MA in Sociology and Education from Columbia University, Teachers College, and an M. Phil. and PhD at Columbia University in Sociology.