Dokumentarni film razkriva zgodbe iz ameriškega javnega šolstva in je pripomogel k pomembnim spremembam na tem področju. Spoznamo zgodbe različnih učencev, kot je osmošolka Emily, ki se boji, da ne bo sprejeta na fakulteto, ter prvošolca Francisca, za katerega si njegova mama želi boljše izobrazbe in s tem tudi možnosti do boljšega življenja.
Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education "statistics" have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes," methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems.