Month: April 2016

Return of Schools – Reimagining a Traditional School District

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

If, when and how the Recovery School District (RSD) schools should return to local control has been a point of discussion and contention for the past ten years. On Wednesday, SB 432 by Senator Peterson unanimously passed the Senate and now heads to the House. If SB 432 becomes law, these questions are about to be answered.

SB 432 redefines the roles of the School Board and the district Superintendent, creating an opportunity for New Orleans to implement a reimagined school district in which:

  • Parents choose the school best for their child
  • Autonomous schools make unimpeded academic and personnel decisions on behalf of children
  • The Superintendent authorizes schools to exist and regulates the fair treatment of students
  • The School Board hires and fires the Superintendent, oversees the system’s financial health, and approves policy as needed

The risk going forward is one of execution:

  • Will the Superintendent and School Board be willing to make the hard decisions necessary to promote excellence and equity for all students?
  • How well will the Superintendent and the central office perform the current RSD functions?

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ICYMI: Return of Schools is Getting Close

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

Return of Schools is Close

State control over New Orleans schools could be coming to an end. A bill proposed by Sen. Karen Carter-Peterson would move all New Orleans RSD schools back to OPSB by 2018. There are some key sticking points for stakeholders, but this is the closest education officials and charter advocates have come to giving their blessing to a return plan.
State tuned – Educate Now! will be discussing this legislation in more detail later this week.

Differentiated Funding Lawsuit Update

Former state superintendent Paul Pastorek has filed his first case as an education attorney – intervening in Lusher and Lake Forest’s lawsuit against OPSB on behalf of four families with disabled students. The plaintiffs (Lusher and Lake Forest) are suing to block the new funding formula; these families are countering that the current public school funding is discriminatory.

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Educating Black Students: New Orleans Outperforms Other States

Posted on by Leslie Jacobs

New Orleans black elementary students outperform black elementary students in other states

This past spring, Louisiana, along with ten other states, gave students in grades 3-8 common core-aligned PARCC tests in English and math. These tests are more rigorous than the old LEAP tests, and a student scoring Mastery is considered on a path to be college and career ready.

One of the advantages of using PARCC is the ability to compare performance across states. Educate Now! examined performance data by sub-group for most of the eleven states that took PARCC tests last year.

Except for Massachusetts, New Orleans’ black students consistently outperformed black students in the other states in almost every grade and subject.

The PARCC data is presented by grade and by subject. Below are the 8th grade results. Educate Now! picked 8th grade, as it is the culminating grade for most schools in the city. Only Massachusetts outperformed New Orleans in 8th grade English and math.

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