Continuity mistake: In the first assembly, Sams and his friend are on the stage behind the guys beatboxing. The next cut is the teachers asking Sams and his friend to go up to the stage.
Audio problem: In the scene when Joe Clark takes Thomas Sams and the other boys into the music room, he slams Thomas Sams into the piano and you hear what sounds to be like keys being pressed down. However, he hit the side of the piano, so the only way sound could have come out is if his hands were over the keys. The way he hit the piano, it was not possible to produce any type of sound.
Factual error: The dates used in the movie were inaccurate. For starters, in the auditorium scene, Joe Clark said that the minimum basic skills test would take place on April 17. April 17, 1988 was on a Sunday. Also, when they did the countdown, 99 days before that date would have been Saturday January 9 (they couldn't have updated the sign). And in the scene when Ms Levias is yelling at Joe Clark, she said 'for the past 7 months' - it was only April, but he came in October (6 months earlier).
Other mistake: When Mrs. Barrett spoke out at the parent's meeting after the expulsion of the bad kids, she shouted out 'he insulted the black football coach'. Joe Clark insulted him at a staff meeting, and she wasn't there. How could she have possibly known about it?
Suggested correction: Because Clark demoted a black coach and replaced him with a white coach. Some black people would consider that an insult.
Character mistake: When Mrs. Barrett is on the school board stating her case, she said that the test scores on the practice exam were 35% below passing. Earlier in the movie, when Joe Clark opened the letter, the Eastside passing score was 33%, which was 42% below the required passing score of 75%. Since she was trying to get him removed, it would have been to her advantage to say 42% instead of 35% - 35% would have made it 68%, which would have still not been enough to pass.
