Providence-St. Mel, a private school in Chicago, is celebrated nationwide for its remarkable success rate: for nearly 30 years, 100 percent of its students have gone on to attend college. As the nation faces an ongoing crisis in public education, many administrators and activists have begun turning to the Providence model to boost test scores and student confidence. This documentary chronicles the school's unique history, and offers testimonies from generations of Providence-St. Mel teachers and
alumni. ~ Carly Wray, Rovi
The subjects seem to be guiding the director through the movie, which offers no objectivity and avoids obvious questions. It's among the best films in history within its genre, but that genre is infomercial.
Adams is well worth a movie, and this one's engaging as far as it goes. But for the film to be truer to the school's reputation, it would have had to dig a little deeper.
Adams and the school's students and teachers deserve an A-plus, although the film rates a much lower grade. It unfolds lifelessly, as Binzer parades a contingent of talking heads before the camera in what could pass for an infomercial.
Marginally compelling and well-edited while deficient when it comes to insight and provocativeness. You'll find a lot of potatoes here, but not enough meat.
The Providence Effect comes off as more a gauzy 90-minute infomercial for the school than a real examination of its methods and strategies for success.
Providence-St. Mel's achievements are truly laudable, but its inspirational lessons get watered down by the uncritical approach taken by director/producer Rollin Binzer.
Shows the effect of teachers who care and students groomed to believe in themselves. It's also remarkably reassuring to see education at work and believe, yes, it can be done.
Swooning but shallow, this doc plays like a promotional commercial for Providence St. Mel, a private school on Chicago's impoverished West Side that sends 100 percent of its graduates on to college.
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