This eye-opening documentary by Emmy-Winner Mackenzie, spotlights previous teacher Kareem Weaver’s courageous activist work in California. “When I started teaching in Oakland, there were only two kids in my class of thirty-five who could read,” he tells us. Oakland’s curriculum and faulty methodologies are part of the issues Kareem contends with. He involves first- grade teacher Sabrina Causey in the cause, and she transforms her lesson plans to great effect. Touching scenes with two black families in Virginia and Mississippi underscore the importance of early literacy efforts in the home. Though blacks and Hispanics (and other minorities) are clearly at a disadvantage in literacy statistics, this is an alarming cross-racial, national problem: 66% of fourth graders in the USA are reading below grade level.

Official Selection, South by Southwest Edu 2023 

“A jaw-dropping indictment on the historical and present failings of the country’s educational and political leadership… a passionate call to action.” 

The Hollywood Reporter