2010 State of Public Education in New Orleans Report

March 2010

The Scott Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University is pleased to announce the release of the 2010 State of Public Education in New Orleans report which provides a comprehensive survey of quantitative data and stakeholder opinion about what is working and not working in our public schools – sharing the voice of the educators, parents, and voters. It is important that decisions affecting public schools and students in New Orleans be informed decisions, based on research and the needs and desires of the people most impacted.

The report also offers a set of successes that schools have achieved over the past two years as well as key challenges that still face public education in New Orleans. The report is designed to help policymakers, educators, parents, nonprofit organizations, and the community understand how public schools in New Orleans have progressed over time and also how they compare to schools around Louisiana and the United States. This is the third State of Public Education in New Orleans report published by the Cowen Institute.

In addition to explaining how the current system emerged after Hurricane Katrina, the report gives detailed information on student demographics, school facilities, school finances, school choice and human capital. The 2010 State of Public Education in New Orleans report also provides detailed student achievement data by school and survey results from a recent public opinion poll on school governance.

In the nearly five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, a fundamentally different public education system has emerged. Overall, the Cowen Institute report concludes that the system of public schools in New Orleans continues to improve even as it faces a number of major challenges. The report lists and explains the major successes and challenges identified through research.

We believe that this report will help policymakers, administrators, and educators prioritize the challenges that need to be addressed, as well as identify the successful developments that should be continued or replicated.

[Download the Full Report]

[Download the Executive Summary]

[Download the Presentation]

[Watch a video of a briefing on the report]

Click here to download previous State of Public Education in New Orleans reports.