On Monday night, January 18^th, the movie “Most Likely to Succeed” will show at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. Doors open at 6:30 pm. It is free to the public, after registering here. After the showing, a panel of Seattle School District administrators, students and business leaders will discuss the movie with its Executive Producer, Ted Dintersmith. The host of the event is Ideas Ignited, an organization working to bring more creativity into public schools.

The movie is about High Tech High, a high-performing public charter school in San Diego, California. Teachers at High Tech High assess students on a public display of projects at an exhibition at the end of the school year. The movie follows one group of students writing and putting on a play, led by a girl who conquers her shyness while learning how to direct the others. Another group of students creates a large wooden clock with thousands of moving pieces, pieces which fail to work as planned the day of the exhibition. Teachers use these challenges to develop students’ knowledge, confidence, creativity, and resilience in the face of failure.  

Last summer Washington Policy Center intern Katherine Hill wrote this review of “Most Likely to Succeed.” She points out the school’s program is possible because teachers at High Tech High are allowed the “freedom to teach what they want, without the barrier of state-mandated parameters.” Her review concludes:

Whiteley’s use of quip-laden voiceover, stock footage and informative graphics help explain his point that schools like High Tech High could be equipping our graduates with skills that are more relevant in today’s economy, such as creativity, communication, and collaboration.

“Most Likely to Succeed” is a first-rate depiction of how the charter school model allows public school teachers to re-imagine and reconstruct their schools. At High Tech High charter school, teachers are allowed the freedom to use their talent to inspire, motivate and deliver the full richness of knowledge and learning to their students.