The New Orleans model: Praised but unproven
Back in 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Hurricane Katrina the best thing to happen to public education in New Orleans because it gave reformers a rare chance to reset the entire system.
Since then, mayors and governors from Nevada to Tennessee have sought to replicate the New Orleans model by converting struggling public schools into privately run charters and giving principals unprecedented autonomy to run their own staffs, budgets and curricula — as long as they deliver better test scores.
But behind all the enthusiasm is an unsettling truth: There’s no proof it works.
To be sure, as the 10-year anniversary of Katrina approaches, there are positive signs. New Orleans used to have the worst public schools in the state, but high school exam results and graduation rates are nearing the state average. Fewer students are attending failing schools and more are enrolling in college.
“What New Orleans has proven is that you can go, in layman’s terms, from an F to a C,” said Neerav Kingsland, former CEO of New Schools for New Orleans and now an independent school consultant in the city. “We’ve taken what was arguably one of the most underperforming school districts in the country and we’ve stabilized it so that it’s now performing near the state average.”
“Of course, that being said, Louisiana ranks 49th in the nation, so the state average is not a measure of excellence,” Kingsland added. “I don’t think we have proven that this system can deliver excellence. I don’t think anyone would say it’s excellent.”
The average ACT score for the high school class of 2014 in the state’s Recovery School District, the one created to take over failing schools statewide — was 16.4 — considerably below the minimum score required for admission to a four-year public college in Louisiana. Analysts say that school quality is uneven, political
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