Why NOLA?
New Orleans Public Education: Post Katrina Opportunity
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is undergoing one of the most compelling educational transformations in the history of public education. The city of New Orleans now has the incredibly rare opportunity to rebuild its public education system from scratch. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans public school system was considered among the worst in the country. Today, over 50% of public schools students in New Orleans attend charter schools; schools that are managed independently from a central school district and are held accountable for delivering improved academic results for children. This seismic change in school governance and accountability offers the potential for the creation of a truly effective system of public education and a new national model for reforming failed urban school districts.
Need: School Turnaround CMO
In the New Orleans public education landscape, there exist several types of school operators, but none that specialize in transforming failed schools into successful high-performing ones. This presents a significant shortfall in Louisiana’s accountability system, where charter schools must perform or face the threat of being shut down. While closing poor-performing charter schools promotes the notion of choice and accountability within New Orleans’ new system of schools, it does nothing to ensure that the students leaving the closed school receive a high quality education the following year.
Recovery School District
In November 2005, the Louisiana Legislature placed 107 of 128 New Orleans public schools under the control of the state-run Recovery School District (RSD.) All of these schools were performing below the state average in terms of academic performance. Organizations that operate schools in the Recovery School District must meet specific five-year academic and financial benchmarks in order to keep their contract (charter) with the state. There is a considerable possibility that several charter schools will be placed on probation or have their charter contract revoked since some of the new charter schools in the city are run by inexperienced operators. The RSD will not be in a position to close every failing school and may, in fact, elect to insert new management as an alternative. NOLA 180 aims to fill this void by developing a school turnaround firm that is capable of transforming the city’s poorest performing schools into world-class institutions that prepare its students for high-quality high schools and college.
Growth Plan
As New Orleans moves towards becoming the first city in the United States to form an all-charter-school model of public education, NOLA 180 is gearing up to meet the charter movement’s most contentious problem: failed schools. NOLA 180 plans to enter the school turnaround market two years from now, in the year 2010. In order to prepare for this tremendous undertaking, the organization launched its flagship school (Langston Hughes Academy) in the summer of 2007. This will give the organization time to develop and incubate a specialized corps of highly effective teachers and administrators that can be deployed to lead the organization’s first takeover school in 2010. Langston Hughes Academy currently serves over 125 fourth and fifth graders. Grades K – 4 will be added the following year in 2008, to increase the grade configuration to kindergarten through sixth grade. Seventh and eighth grades will be added in the following years until the school serves grades K through 8 in 2010.
