Personalized Learning is Gaining Traction in New Orleans

Sharing a commitment to ensuring all New Orleans students have a competitive edge in an innovation-based economy, New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) and Educate Now! recently announced grants totaling $1.5 million to implement new, school-wide personalized learning programs in New Orleans public schools. Funding for these grants comes from both national and local sources, showing a broad base of support for personalized learning in New Orleans.

Personalized learning initiatives tailor instruction to the individual needs, skills, and interests of students using technology, robust data, and rigorous planning. This education model gives teachers and schools the opportunity to accelerate student learning and skill mastery, particularly for struggling students. Akili Academy, KIPP McDonogh 15 Middle School, and New Orleans Charter Science & Mathematics High School (Sci High) will each receive $300,000 to create a more student-centric instruction approach beginning in the fall of 2015. An additional set of schools received grants to support exploration and piloting of personalized strategies.

The grants are being funded by the Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), the Booth-Bricker Fund, Baptist Community Ministries, and Educate Now! They are part of a broader plan by NSNO and Educate Now! to increase the use of personalized learning in schools across the city.

For more information on these grants and other personalized learning initiatives from NSNO and Educate Now!, click here.

NSNO and Educate Now! anticipate releasing another round of grants for personalized learning in the 2015-16 school year.

ICYMI: The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) … Your mini news clippings

The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina – the New Orleans children who spent years after Katrina in a nomadic exile that severely disrupted their education.

In response to the latest CREDO study, Fortune Magazine says urban charter schools are succeeding – so get out of their way. In cities where charters are achieving significant gains, enrollment opportunities should be expanded so more kids can take advantage of them.

Common Core is unpopular in Louisiana when you call it Common Core Academic Standards, an LSU survey finds, but 67% of citizens and 71% of Republicans support the concept when it is just referred to as “academic standards.”

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ICYMI: The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) … Your mini news clippings

The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina – the New Orleans children who spent years after Katrina in a nomadic exile that severely disrupted their education.

In response to the latest CREDO study, Fortune Magazine says urban charter schools are succeeding – so get out of their way. In cities where charters are achieving significant gains, enrollment opportunities should be expanded so more kids can take advantage of them.

Common Core is unpopular in Louisiana when you call it Common Core Academic Standards, an LSU survey finds, but 67% of citizens and 71% of Republicans support the concept when it is just referred to as “academic standards.”

Continue reading

ICYMI: The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) … Your mini news clippings

The Atlantic looks at the Lost Children of Katrina – the New Orleans children who spent years after Katrina in a nomadic exile that severely disrupted their education.

In response to the latest CREDO study, Fortune Magazine says urban charter schools are succeeding – so get out of their way. In cities where charters are achieving significant gains, enrollment opportunities should be expanded so more kids can take advantage of them.

Common Core is unpopular in Louisiana when you call it Common Core Academic Standards, an LSU survey finds, but 67% of citizens and 71% of Republicans support the concept when it is just referred to as “academic standards.”

Continue reading

By the Numbers: The Graduating Class of 2014

The state just released new data on cohort graduation rates and college enrollment rates. Continuing our By the Numbers series, Educate Now! takes a look at the class of 2014.

THE GOOD NEWS

100% more students enrolled in college

In 2005, only 675 Orleans Parish Public School graduates enrolled in a two or four year college the following fall, compared to 1,360 graduates from New Orleans’ class of 2014.

Even though the 2014 senior class was much smaller than the 2005 senior class (2,654 students versus 3,753), our schools sent a much higher proportion of students to college. This tremendous increase is a testament to the hard work of educators in New Orleans.

College_Enrollment_2005_vs_2014

 2005 vs. 2014

2005 2014
Number of seniors
3573 2654
Number of graduates
2878 2305
Number enrolled in college
675 1360
Percent of senior class in college
19% 51%

65% of Black males graduated on time: New Orleans outperforms nation

With a 65% Black male graduation rate1, New Orleans is now outperforming the state and the nation. The Schott Foundation recently published Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males. In 2013:
  • The national graduation rate for Black males was 59%.
  • Louisiana’s graduation rate for Black males was 59%.
  • New Orleans graduation rate for Black males was 65%.

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