Located just south of downtown Chicago, the National Teachers Academy Elementary School (NTA) is a high-achieving public school in an African American neighborhood. When the city announces plans to phase out NTA’s curriculum and turn it into a high school drawing students from other schools, the community senses gentrification… and, soon, the fight for justice is on.
The NTA is the pride of its community, receiving numerous accolades, including Chicago’s top-ranking recognition for educational achievement and helping Black, working-class children to achieve success. In 2017, however, residents from a nearby gentrifying neighborhood urged the city to turn NTA into a high school that would benefit their children. But NTA’s parents, teachers, administrators and students, who have seen the city administration bypass their best interests for too long, will have none of it. Kevin Shaw’s documentary is at once an infuriating and hopeful look at a Chicago school that will have you on edge of your seats until the final bell rings.
Director Biography
Kevin Shaw is a director, producer and cinematographer, whose work has appeared on numerous major television networks. He directed the documentary short Jeremiah Strong (2002) and the documentary features The Street Stops Here (2010) and Goose (2012). Let the Little Light Shine (2021) is his most recent documentary.