Upcoming documentary unveils urban urgency.

It is reminiscent of many urban school stories: Indianapolis, 1997. Test scores were dismal and the minority-to-white achievement gap was gaping.

But since the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education came along, student reading improved significantly, according to former Superintendent of Schools Pat Pritchett. Some schools even soared ahead of state average test scores, he adds.

The NUA simply conducted a curriculum audit of each school and worked with administrators to develop a comprehensive staff development plan to help all teachers understand the strategies necessary to teach reading, recalls Pritchett, now at Indian River County Schools in Florida.

"Together, this partnership made a difference for kids," Pritchett says.

This is just part of the makings of a new feature documentary in the works called In a Perfect World ... Listen to the Children. The documentary, which will include the students' perspective in low-income and primarily urban schools, will be featured next summer at Aspen Institute, whose mission is to foster enlightened leadership and dialogue at their seminars, policy programs and conferences. It will depict critical issues for education reform that NUA president and founder Eric Cooper addressed during this past summer's Aspen Ideas Festival.

"Our goal is to help everyone realize that every child in the American education system is capable of graduating from high school ready for college," Cooper says.

NUA, which is about 17 years old, is working in 22 school districts nationwide, in part providing professional development to administrators and teachers and creating partnerships with the community and local business and faith organizations.

Cooper points to Birmingham, Ala., as a success story. In one year, the percentage of students meeting state standards jumped from 40 percent to 80 percent. He says it's about improving the delivery of instruction to students and showing teachers that even the students they don't think can learn actually can and will, and that encouragement will make the students more hopeful and eager to learn.

www.nuatc.org