A documentary filmmaker’s goal is to inform, inspire, and sometimes enrage. With the topic of education reform growing ever hotter in the collective conscious of American society, we’re seeing an abundance of documentaries focusing on this issue lately. Check out four recently-released or soon-to-be-released documentaries that deal with education reform:

TEN9EIGHT, directed by filmmaker Mary Mazzio, highlights the stories of a diverse group of inner-city teens across the nation as they compete in an annual business plan competition held by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). The film will be nationally broadcast at noon on BET this Sunday, Feb. 7, and again on Centric, Monday, Feb. 8 at 8 pm. Watch the trailer below, and click here to visit the official site.

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WAITING FOR SUPERMAN examines the crisis of an unbalanced American public school system through five interlocking stories set in different cities across the country. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, who brought us the Oscar-winning global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, Waiting For Superman premiered at this year’s Sundance, where it got picked up by Paramount Pictures and won an Audience Award. Below, watch the trailer below along with a clip of Bill Gates speaking about the film.

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THE LOTTERY follows four families from Harlem and the Bronx in the months leading up to the lottery for Harlem Success Academy, one of the most successful charter schools in New York. Coming to theaters May 7, 2010, The Lottery is directed by Madeleine Sackler and reveals the struggles, dreams, and emotions of families whose childrens’ futures depend on the outcome of a high stakes draw. Watch the trailer below, and click here to visit the official site.

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RACE TO NOWHERE approaches the education crisis from a unique point of view. Director Vicki Abeles looks at students who face tremendous pressures from the rigorous demands of academics and draws attention to the increasingly unrealistic expectations of parents. The film brings attention to the notion that perhaps the mounting pressures placed on students are causing them to become discouraged, burnt-out, and disengaged. click here to visit the official site.