UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A baseball field in York, Pennsylvania. A film festival in Charlotte, North Carolina. A speaker series at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Those are some of the venues hosting screenings of and presentations about “Class of Her Own,” a recently released documentary by award-winning filmmaker and Penn State faculty member Boaz Dvir (“Jessie’s Dad,” “Cojot”).
In a recent article, Forbes described “Class of Her Own” as a “real-life mirror of Abbott Elementary.”
“As a filmmaker, I appreciate the fact the people everywhere can watch ‘Class of Her Own’ at the convenience of their home on major platforms, from Amazon Prime Video to XBox,” said Dvir, an associate professor of journalism in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, whose films have also aired and streamed on PBS and The New York Times, among other venues. “But for me, nothing beats interacting with viewers and hearing their questions and thoughts about the educational and social issues that the documentary brings up. They include the pros and cons of standardized testing and the persistence of school segregation 70 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.”
The “Class of Her Own” screenings and presentations include:
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May 3: At 11:30 a.m. CST (12:30 pm EST), as part of its Speaker Series, Texas A&M University-Commerce’s Department of Psychology & Special Education will host Dvir’s virtual presentation, “From Ordinary to Change Agents—Trailblazing Transformations.” He’ll discuss the arc of the documentary’s protagonist, Duval Elementary (Gainesville, Florida) teacher Gloria Jean Merriex. After her high-need school failed its high-stakes state standardized test, she rewrote the curriculum to meet her students where they were and used hip hop and dance to teach reading and math.
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May 7: At 6 p.m., as part of national Teacher Appreciation Week, the Positive Energy Arts Foundation and WellSpan Park will screen “Class of Her Own.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will include an in-person Q&A with Dvir, raffles and dancers. The 7,500-seat field is home of the minor league baseball team York Revolution. “Positive Energy is pleased to partner with Boaz Dvir and WellSpan Park to bring the York Community ‘A Class of her Own,’ ” said Amy Costa, the foundation’s executive director.
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June 12: At 5:30 p.m., the School District of Palm Beach County’s 30th Annual African American Summer Institute will feature “Class of Her Own” at Palm Beach Lakes Community High School’s Nate Collins Auditorium. The screening — which is hosted by district’s Office of African, African American, Latino, and Holocaust Studies — will include an in-person Q&A with Dvir.
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June 13-16: The Charlotte Black Film Festival has chosen “Class of Her Own” as an official selection. In the coming weeks, the festival will determine the screening’s date and time.
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July 30-Aug. 2: The University Film & Video Association will screen “Class of Her Own” at its annual conference at Cleveland State University in Cleveland. In the coming weeks, UFVA will determine the screening’s date and time.
“Class of Her Own” follows Dvir’s “Discovering Gloria,” a documentary short that focused on Merriex’s teaching techniques. “Class of Her Own” focuses on Merriex’s journey. Rebelling after Duval failed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, she led the school from an F to an A in one year.