Latest News
-
K-12 Public Education through the Public’s Eye: Voters’ Perception of Public Education (2013)
-
Spotlight on Choice: Parent Opinions on School Selection in New Orleans
-
2012 ACT Scores show large gains for some RSD charter schools
Click here to read NOLA by the Numbers: ACT Scores, Class of 2012.
-
NOLA by the Numbers: 2012 School Performance Scores
Click here to read our analysis of the latest school performance data.
Press
-
Annual public opinion poll finds mixed feelings on future governance for public schools
Click here to read the Times-Picayune article on this year’s poll results.
-
EdWeek Highlights CI Parental Choice Research
Click here to read the article on new teachers in New Orleans’ schools.
-
The National Journal examines New Orleans’ public school reform
-
Report says New Orleans parents need better information for school choice to work
Click here to read an article in The Advocate about our recent Spotlight on Choice report.








Staff
John Ayers, Executive Director
For 10 years, John was executive director of Leadership for Quality Education (LQE), a school reform group created by business leaders involved in the reform of the Chicago Public Schools. LQE’s board included the area’s top CEOs, civic and institutional leaders, and policy-makers, including then State Senator Barack Obama. John was instrumental in launching and supporting both the city’s small school and charter school movements in the mid-1990s. He created a successful charter school resources center that assisted in start-up and financing Chicago’s first 23 charters, twelve of which are now replicating their models.
John previously had worked for U.S. Representative Lane Evans of Illinois in Washington, DC and at the Chicago Tribune. He has held leadership positions on the boards of the Consortium on Chicago School Research, the Emergency Fund for Needy People, Facing History and Ourselves, and WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, where he helped the station achieve independence. John holds an MBA with distinction from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Email John | Phone: (504) 274-3688
Debra Vaughan, Assistant Director, Research
Email Debra | Phone: (504) 274-3659
Jill Zimmerman, Research Manager
Email Jill | Phone: (504) 274-3692
Matt Segraves, Policy Manager
Email Matt | Phone: (504) 274-3616
Amy Barad, Manager of Operations and Special Projects
Email Amy | Phone: (504) 274-3682
Alex Hand, Programming Coordinator
Email Alex | Phone: (504) 274-3680
Walter Stern, Research Graduate Assistant
A New Orleans native and public school parent, Walter Stern is a Ph.D. student in history at Tulane University, where he focuses on race, public education, and urban change in the twentieth-century South. Prior to beginning his graduate studies, Walter taught high school English in Greenville, Mississippi, as a member of Teach For America. He later covered public education for the daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia, and from 2006 to 2008, he led teachNOLA, a post-Katrina teacher recruitment initiative. Walter has received multiple awards for his journalistic and scholarly writing, including the Louisiana Historical Association’s top graduate student prize. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies from Yale University and a Master’s Degree in History from Tulane.
Email Walter