Before Hurricane Katrina, the Orleans Parish school district was the worst performing district in the state. Fortunately, over the past five years, the city’s educational landscape has been transformed.
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Before Hurricane Katrina, the Orleans Parish school district was the worst performing district in the state. Fortunately, over the past five years, the city’s educational landscape has been transformed.
The majority of the schools were “academically unacceptable” and the valedictorian of one school failed the exit exam 6 times. The central district was so corrupt that the FBI developed their own office within the district office and 24 district leaders were indicted for fraud and corruption. After Hurricane Katrina 35% of New Orleans schools were completely destroyed. Almost every Orleans Parish school district employee was laid off and all public schools were closed.
Citywide school performance scores in New Orleans have improved nearly four times the state average since the storm, and New Orleans is now on the leading edge of the national reform effort to prepare every child for college and beyond. Approximately 60% of New Orleans public school students attend charter schools in a system of schools that places resources, autonomy, and accountability at the school site instead of in a top-down, centralized management model. In some districts, the size and number of traditional public schools will shrink in the future as communities become more partial to public charter schools.
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