In this edition of In the News:
- Economic Success of New Orleans
- Legislative Update
- What Does the Public Think?
- Other Louisiana Stories
- National News
- Closer to Home
Economic Success of New Orleans
Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
Brookings Institution – March 2012
Brookings has named Greater New Orleans one of the “20 Strongest Performing Metros” in the nation based on the strength of our economic recovery. Brookings looked at the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and New Orleans’ job growth and gains in economic output placed our city in their top 20. Read More »
In this edition of In the News:
- A Big Leap Forward
- Weighing in on the Legislative Agenda
- A How-To Guide for New Orleans-Style Reform
- Tougher Expulsion Policies Don’t Equal More Crime
- Charter Accountability
- National Education Stories
- Local News
A Big Leap Forward
The Big Easy’s Business Leap Forward
The Wall Street Journal – March 16, 2012
The Wall Street Journal celebrates New Orleans’ entrepreneurial boom and the new risk-taking spirit in New Orleans exemplified by Idea Village’s fourth annual Entrepreneur Week, which featured 525 start-up companies competing for more than $1 million in capital and consulting services.
Editor’s Note: Jen Medbery, founder of Drop the Chalk/Kickboard, won Entrepreneur Week’s top award – the Coulter Challenge IDEApitch. Congratulations Jen for marrying the education reform movement with the city’s entrepreneurial renaissance. Read More »
Governor Jindal has made K-12 education reform the cornerstone of his legislative agenda. He is proposing sweeping changes – including expanding vouchers, creating more charter schools, and changing teacher tenure – that could radically alter the landscape of Louisiana education.
This Wednesday the House Education Committee and this Thursday the Senate Education Committee will hear his three foundational bills.
- Rep. Carter’s House Bill 976 and Sen. Appel’s SB 597, which expand school choice, including the scholarship program, pathways for charter schools, the providers who can offer courses to K-12 students, and a “parent trigger” for failing schools.
- Rep. Carter’s House Bill 974 and Sen. Appel’s SB 603, which link teacher tenure to performance, make effectiveness the primary criterion for personnel decisions, and grant authority for hiring and placement of personnel to school superintendents.
- Rep. Carter’s House Bill 933 and Sen. Appel’s SB 581, which outline a framework for a single coordinated early childhood education system with accountability for academic outcomes.
Comments on the Governor’s Education Package
Gov. Bobby Jindal Education Overhaul Legislation Introduced
The Times-Picayune – March 3, 2012
This article outlines the governor’s ambitious plans, provides details on the different bills to be debated, and presents arguments for and against his most controversial proposals to overhaul teacher tenure and expand vouchers. Read More »
In this edition of In the News:
- Schools More Diverse; High Poverty Stays the Same
- RSD Headlines
- Enrollment Begins for 2012-13
- National Education Stories
- Louisiana’s Education Leaders in the News
- Governor’s Reform Agenda
Orleans Public School Enrollment Continues to Climb with Increase in Diversity and Charter Choice
- New Orleans continues its steady increase in enrollment, growing from 39,877 students last year to 42,030 this year.
- The student population continues to diversify, with the percentage of non-African American students growing to 13.7% this year, up from 11.3% last year and 6.6% before Katrina.
- The percentage of students attending charter schools increased sizably, from 71% last year to 77.5% this year
- The percent of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch has remained fairly constant – 83.5% – and is more than 16 percentage points higher than the state average.
View student enrollment for OPSB and RSD by year and by sub-group (white, black, free, reduced).
View the Oct 1 student enrollment by school.
For more information on children in New Orleans, read this report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It includes demographic and socio-economic data as well as information on educational achievement. Read More »
In this edition of In the News:
- What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?
- The Case for Charter School Districts
- Gov. Jindal’s Plan for Education Reform
- National Education Stories
- RSD in the News
- In Other News
- Announcements
What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?
What Can Ohio Learn from the Louisiana Recovery School District?
Education Gadfly – January 17, 2012
According to Ohio’s Fordham Institute, the speed and scale of improvements in Louisiana’s Recovery School District is vastly superior to anything they’ve seen in Ohio’s troubled schools. Fordham commissioned a report on the RSD to learn more about what’s working, what’s not, and what lessons can be applied in the Buckeye State. Read More »
In this edition of In the News:
- Measuring Teacher Effectiveness
- New Superintendents Chosen for Department of Education and RSD
- Louisiana Education Stories
- National News
- Announcements
Measuring Teacher Effectiveness
Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain
New York Times – January 6, 2012
A new study of the value-added method of teacher evaluation shows that teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores have a lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics. The study tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years and found that students with high value-added teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, more likely to enroll in college, and more likely to earn more money as adults. Read More »
Today, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) elected John White as the new state Superintendent of Education.
Since May 2011, John White has served as the Superintendent of Louisiana’s Recovery School District. White began his career in education as an English teacher in a high-poverty school in New Jersey. He later became the Executive Director of Teach For America-Chicago, where he worked for three years before taking a job with the New York City school system. In New York, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Portfolio Division, leading efforts to turn around failing schools and develop new ones, and later he served as NYC’s Deputy Chancellor, overseeing talent, labor and innovation.
John White has named Patrick Dobard as the new Superintendent of the Recovery School District. Dobard is a local New Orleanian and a career educator who taught for eleven years in Louisiana schools. In 2001, Dobard joined the Louisiana Department of Education, and over the next ten years he served in several key positions before moving to the Recovery School District. As the RSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Community and Policy, Dobard led the RSD’s 100-day strategy sessions that resulted in the comprehensive “What Will It Take” strategic plan for the RSD.
For more information, read the Louisiana Department of Education’s press release.
In this edition of In the News:
- Three Wishes for 2012
- New Orleans Startup Boom
- Local Education News
- National Education Stories
- Louisiana Updates
Educate Now! wishes you and yours a healthy and joyous 2012.
For education reform in New Orleans, Educate Now! has three wishes for 2012.
Wish #1: Academic gains continue at a robust pace.
- New Orleans continues to improve much faster than the state.
- The percentage of students performing Basic or above exceeds 60%.
- New Orleans continues to close the achievement gap.
Wish #2: The new centralized RSD enrollment process goes well.
- Parents can understand the system.
- Parents and students continue to overwhelmingly get their first choice of school.
- Students with special needs have an easier time enrolling in schools.
Wish #3: The Orleans Parish School Board recognizes its role as Resource Manager for the entire system of schools in Orleans Parish. As our Resource Manager, OPSB:
- Rolls forward the millage to increase money available for schools.
- Uses the $79 million bond proceeds and the proceeds from the sales of surplus property in a manner that benefits ALL schools and creates a source of funds for capital repairs and maintenance.
- Quits using the OPSB fund balance (surplus) to subsidize the operations of its 5 schools and 3,000 students and instead creates a set of rules for use of the fund balance that benefits all public schools in the city. Read More »
In this edition of In the News:
- New Orleans is WSJ’s Most Improved City for Business
- Cowen Institute Releases Two Assessments of Progress
- Centralized Enrollment System
- Other Local New Orleans Stories
- Around Louisiana
- National Education News
- New Orleans Think Tank Aims to Reshape Public Education
New Orleans is WSJ’s Most Improved City for Business
WSJ: New Orleans Business – Most Improved in 2011
The Wall Street Journal – December 13, 2011
According to the Wall Street Journal‘s Marketwatch, New Orleans is the most improved metropolitan area for economic competitiveness. The Journal examined 102 metropolitan communities and compared unemployment rates, cost of living and personal income growth. In just two years, New Orleans has moved from dead last to the top third of the class. Read More »
In the News: A Clipping Service
In this edition of In the News:
- The Daily Comes to New Orleans
- Louisiana Education Reform: What’s Next?
- Charter School News
- National Education Stories
- Focus on Teach For America
The Daily Comes to New Orleans
The national, online magazine The Daily profiled education reform in New Orleans and how we are working to retain the young talent in the city. This three part series highlights Sci Academy as a new charter start-up (part 1), the teachers who are the cornerstone of the school’s success (part 2), and the influx of new, young people to the city (part 3). Read More »
