K-12 School Reform in New Orleans

USW 31Week 1412.1.14

I. Background

K-12 Education Quality Through Time

• In 1910, fewer than 10% of young people graduated from high school. By the mid-1930s the rate was 30% to 50%.

• The advent of the Cold War and the launch of Sputnik spurred a reinvigoration of math and science curriculum in American schools.

• In recent years, politicians and commentators have voiced growing concern about the quality of American public education.

PISA Results:

Inequality in K-12 Education

• Legal school segregation by race in many states through 1954.

• De facto racial and economic segregation persists.

• Huge variation in public school quality.• One symptom (of many): 70% of top income

quartile students earn a BA, but just 10% of students in the bottom quartile do.

Market-Based Reforms in Schools

In cities across the country, school districts are experimenting with “market-based” education reforms. – Independent school governance– Parent choice in type of school– Accountability through test scores– Competition between schools for students– Schools can fail and close

Origins of Market Reforms

• Charter schools – first one opened in 1991– What is a charter school?

• “No Child Left Behind” legislation in 2001– Mandated state-administered standardized tests– Schools must make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

or face penalties, takeover, or closure• Obama administration policy from 2009 on…– Waivers to AYP in exchange for other reforms– “Race to the Top”

II. New Orleans

Pre-Katrina School Context

• Segregated public schools well after Brown v. Board

• 1960 “Crisis of Desegregation” – Ruby Bridges• White flight to suburbs • New Orleans population decline, economic

decline starting in 1970s

Schools in 1990s and early 2000s

• De facto segregation. City 68% black. Schools 94% black.

• Students also poor: 73% on free/reduced lunch.

• Revolving door of superintendents in the decade before the storm.

• FBI investigation of school board corruption.• Fortier Valedictorian fails graduation exam.

Poised to Take Over

• State Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education concerned about NOLA schools

• Recovery School District created in 2003• Several charters in New Orleans in 2004• Teach for America—several hundred “Corps

Members” and alumni

Katrina

• Levees designed to protect city fail, city floods• 450,000 people forced from homes, city is

empty for a month.• 71% of housing units damaged or destroyed.• All 104 public schools in New Orleans close• 7,000 teachers lose their jobs• United Teachers of New Orleans loses

bargaining power

Market-Based Reforms in NOLA

• Act 35 drastically expands RSD control of schools.

• Open enrollment for schools – choice and competition.

• As of 2014 school year, all but 5 New Orleans public schools are charter schools.

• Market-based reforms have gone farther in New Orleans than they have anywhere else.

III. Inside the Schools

“No Excuses” Charters

• College focus: banners, homerooms, visits• Principal controlled hiring, extended day/year,

“basics” curriculum, peppy-but-rote pedagogy, focus on discipline and control

• Examples: Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, YES! Prep

What does it look like?

• Make compliance visible.

• Peppy / kinesthetic pedagogy.

• Lots of eyes on / checks on students.

Controversies

• Suspensions and expulsions– “We would suspend some students 40 or 50 times

over the course of the school year.” – 45 day suspension at KIPP Renaissance

• School to prison pipeline argument• Roundedness of education?

IV. Scale

A workday

• Teacher schedule:– Wake up at 5:30 AM– At school at 6:30 AM, make copies– Staff meeting at 7:15 AM– Students arrive at 7:30 AM– Students leave 5:00 PM– Bus duty until 5:30 PM– Tutoring / detention until 6:30 PM– “On call” for homework help until 9 PM– Grading and planning until 10:30 PM

• Teachers routinely work 80-hour weeks

How do you scale this model?

• Teach for America– 340 current 1st and 2nd year TFA teachers– 860 alumni in the region, many in schools– “Don’t quit no matter what”– 30 NOLA principals are TFA alumni

• TFA as charter school feeder– Best charter schools won’t hire 1st year teachers

but will hire TFA alumni almost exclusively

Problems

• High teacher turnover at many schools

• Race / class divide between students and teachers

• Labor abuses

V. Results

Real Improvements in Student Outcomes

• By most measures, students in New Orleans public schools are seeing better results than they did before the storm.

• There is still a long way to go.

TOPS scholarships in NOLA

• TOPS is a college scholarship to state schools. • Requires a 20 on the ACT and a 2.5 GPA

Decreased annual 9-12 dropout rate

Green = NOLA Orange = State

Improving Test Scores in Grades 3-11

VI. Outstanding Questions

What happens when students get to college?

• Data on early KIPP cohorts from Houston and NYC: 33% 6-year college graduation rate vs. 8% nationwide for a similar demographic group.

• Will other schools repeat this success?

Problems Facing Students

• High dropout rate from college– Hard to pay for– Stuck in remedial classes– For “no excuses” grads: transition from structure

to structurelessness

Problems Facing Students

• Student debt is unforgivable. This is especially scary for students who drop out.

NOLA college counselor: “Tenaya wanted to know if she should go to the college with the 74% six-year graduation rate and take out $135,000 in loans, or choose the college with the 30% six-year graduation rate and $40,000 in loans.”

Discussion Qs for Wednesday

Send your TF one-sentence answers to these questions by 9 PM on Tuesday.1. What’s the most surprising thing you learned in this course?2. What is a theme you see that recurs through segments of the class?3. What current policy issue would you want to analyze using the tools from this course?