Waiting for “Superman” is a 2010 family documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim. The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system. In “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” which opened last Friday, Guggenheim follows five families in their quests to get their children into charter schools he portrays as vastly superior to the ones they’d otherwise attend. With a raft of statistics about the erosion of the U.S. education system, and interviews with a handful of so-called education “reformers,” Guggenheim makes a case for why no child should have to attend a bad school.

The film is drawing a strong positive response from education groups across the nation who hope it will catalyze more public support for change. On Monday, Oprah Winfrey featured the documentary on her show, talking with Guggenheim and Bill Gates, who also appears in the film, and in interview talked about how lucky he was and his children are to be able to attend Private School and how some people not.

Khan’s operational base is a converted walk-in closet in his Silicon Valley home, filled with a few hundred dollars’ worth of video equipment and bookshelves. It is here that Salman Khan produces his online lessons on Math, Science, and other subjects. The Khan Academy, appearing on YouTube and elsewhere is by any measure the most popular educational site online. Khan’s ‘playlist’ of over 1600 tutorials are now seen an average of 70,000 times a day. In any given month, Khan says, he’s reached about 200,000 students.

Distance education has been around for many years, and private (for-profit) schools are also doing very well. What sets the Khan Academy a part, aside for its viral word of mouth, and amazing growth, is that its free and concise. In less than 15 minutes Khan gets to the essence of the topic he’s lecturing about. Obviously you won’t learn topics such as Calculus in one session, the subject is divided into over 190 parts – these components seem to hit the sweet spot of length and substance. Moreover, Khan covers a vast array of topics, ranging from core Math (arithmetic, geometry, algebra,  trigonometry, calculus, and statistics), to Science ( biology, chemistry, and physics), and even economics, history, and more.  

Some sceptics in the education business don’t doubt that Khan means well and is helping students, but they question the impact of a system that doesn’t test performance or allow student-teacher discussion. Furthermore, sceptics have described Khan’s work as more of a library, not an academy. But Khan’s vision involves tens of thousands of tutorials offering world class virtual school, where anyone can learn anything, and (appropriately) his next step involves an interactive web application for user-paced practice and instruction.

Some schools, such as the Culinary Institute of America, offer programs through which a chef may demonstrate his or her knowledge and skills and be given certification. Others, such as Baltimore International College, Stratford University, or Johnson and Wales University, offer programs whereby students gain either an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree. There are also a few, such as Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, or Manchester Community College in Connecticut, where students receive upon graduation not only an Associate’s degree but also certification by the American Culinary Federation, the largest professional chefs’ organization in North America.

The College Board’s A.P. program, which offers a long menu of single-subject courses, is still by far the most common option for giving students a head start on college work, and a potential edge in admissions.

The lesser-known I.B., a two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, first took hold in the United States in private schools. But it is now offered in more than 700 American high schools — more than 90 percent of them public schools — and almost 200 more have begun the long certification process.

Many parents, schools and students see the program as a rigorous and more internationally focused curriculum, and a way to impress college admissions officers.

To earn an I.B. diploma, students must devote their full junior and senior years to the program, which requires English and another language, math, science, social science and art, plus a course on theory of knowledge, a 4,000-word essay, oral presentations and community service.

Here in Cumberland, Greely High School adopted the I.B. this year to make students more aware of the world beyond the United States.

“When our grads would visit from college, they’d tell us that while Greely gave them great academic preparation, they’d had no idea there was a big wide world out there,” said David Galin, Greely’s I.B. coordinator.

To that end, Greely’s I.B. 11th graders read literature from India (“God of Small Things”), South Africa (“Master Harold … and the Boys”), what is now the Czech Republic (“The Metamorphosis”), Chile (“The House of the Spirits”), Egypt (“Midaq Alley”) and Colombia (“Chronicle of a Death Foretold”).

“Our students don’t have as much diversity as people in some other areas, so this makes them open their eyes,” said Deb Pinkham, the program’s English teacher.

The I.B. program is used in 139 countries, and its international focus has drawn criticism from some quarters.

Some parents say it is anti-American and too closely tied to both the United Nations and radical environmentalism. From its start in 1968 until 1976, the program was financed partly by Unesco. It is now associated with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and until recently it endorsed the Earth Charter, a declaration of principles of sustainability that originated at the United Nations.

“When there is a program at the school with a specific agenda, which in this case is the United Nations agenda, I have a problem with it,” said Ann Marie Banfield, who unsuccessfully opposed the adoption of the I.B. program in Bedford, N.H.

Others object to its cost — the organization charges $10,000 a year per school, $141 per student and $96 per exam — and say it is neither as effective as the A.P. program nor likely to reach as many students.

“We have 337 kids, and 80 of them take at least one of our 16 A.P. classes,” said John Eppolito, a parent who opposes the planned introduction of the I.B. in Incline Village, Nev. “If we switched to the I.B., the district estimates that 15 kids would get a I.B. diploma in two years.”

I.B. opponents have created a Web site, truthaboutib.com, to serve as a clearinghouse for their views.

Many schools, and many parents, see the I.B. partly as a way to show college admissions offices that students have chosen a rigorous program, with tests graded by I.B. examiners around the world.

“I don’t think there is anyone who does not respect the I.B.,” said Panetha Ott, an admissions officer at Brown.

Fewer colleges give credit for the I.B. than for A.P., but dozens give students with an I.B. diploma sophomore standing and some offer special scholarships.

The I.B. is also being offered now in some struggling urban schools where educators say it helps put low-income students on par with their richer peers.

Last fall, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave the program a three-year $2.4 million grant to prepare low-income and minority students to participate in the I.B.

California and Florida have the most I.B. schools, and New England the fewest.

In Cumberland, some parents questioned the I.B.’s cost, but none complained about the program’s content, according to Chris Mosca, Greely’s principal.

“No question, the people who founded the I.B. were sitting in Geneva, post-World War II, thinking about how to ensure world peace, so the clear philosophical bent is that by integrating learning and understanding issues from multiple perspectives, we can promote global thinking,” he said. “But what sold me on the program was that it’s good pedagogy, that it really shows kids how things go together.”

Still, Mr. Mosca has no plans to eliminate the school’s Advanced Placement offerings.

“A.P. is great for content-based traditional learning,” he said. “It’s great for kids who like to memorize. But for more creative kids, who want to make those connections, there’s nothing like the I.B.”

On a spring Tuesday, Greely’s I.B. history class was working in small groups, analyzing the Suez crisis with original source documents from Israel, Egypt, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Nations.

Emily Hill, presenting a document from the Soviet foreign office’s Middle East desk, reminded the group that it was a secret memo, translated several times.

Emily, who said she was bored with school last year, said the I.B. program had been more interesting and challenging.

Because it is so rigorous, the I.B. is not for everyone. At Greely, only 21 juniors started the full program this year, and three subsequently shifted to a mix of I.B. and regular classes.

But those who stayed with it seemed enthusiastic.

“It’s like a little club of scholars,” said Maggie Bauer, a junior. “It seems more real-world than how we used to learn, and it’s changed how we look at the world.”

Down the coast, where Kennebunk High School just graduated its first group of I.B. students, Sue Cressey, the I.B. coordinator, said that most of the students in the program the first year had thought about dropping out.

“There was a bad period after everybody flunked a biology exam,” she said. “I had to send a letter home to parents, reassuring them. It’s a new way of thinking, but the kids grew into it. I feel better about sending these kids to college than any group I’ve ever sent.”

The graduates, too, say they feel well prepared.

“In our Theory of Knowledge class, when we debated health care, my role was to take Rush Limbaugh’s position, which couldn’t be further from my own,” said Michael Tahan, one of the graduates.

“I.B. taught us how to think through a position, and support it,” he added. “And while I understand why some parents might worry that the program is international-based, I think it’s good for America for students to learn how others nations think.”

There are many private schools to choose from when considering sending your children. There are special needs schools, military schools, religious schools, Montessori schools and Waldorf schools. Thousands of schools focus on high school and offer college preparatory courses. There are schools are residential/ boarding schools or day school.

Private schools offer extracurricular activities , arts and sports as an important part of the programs.
Most private schools offer many extracurricular activities that a child can choose from . The visual and performing arts, dance, clubs of all kinds, interest groups and community service are just some of the extracurricular activities that are found in private schools.  There are Sports programs combine with academic work and extracurricular activities to develop the child as a whole.

Private schools provide better supervision and have zero tolerance policies.
One of the appealing aspects about sending your child to private school is that your child will never be a number at a private school. he/ She won’t be able to hide in the back of the class. Everyone will get a personal attention from the teachers. Another feature of private schools is that most have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to serious deviance of their rules and codes of conduct. Substance abuse, cheating in exams and bullying not unacceptable activities. Because of zero tolerance, you can be sure that you are placing your children in a safe environment. Children will understand that there are serious consequences for unacceptable behavior.

Class Size

The class size of most private schools allows plenty of personal attention.
This  small size allows students plenty of individual attention and lower student-to-teacher ratios. Class and school size matters in education.