An Intern’s Perspective: Marshall Cox

Each semester, the Cowen Institute hosts Tulane undergraduates that are completing their required internship through the Center for Public Service.  This is a guest post written by a research intern offering up his perspective on his experience, some of his most important research findings, and his thoughts on public education in New Orleans.

As part of fulfilling my public service requirement to graduate from Tulane, I interned at the Cowen Institute in the Fall 2011 semester.  When I first arrived, my understanding of public education in New Orleans was fairly limited.  Though I had worked for the public school system in Memphis, Tennessee and previously had tutored at a local elementary school, as an out-of-state Tulane student I had not received much exposure to public education here.

During my semester at the Cowen Institute, I have learned much about the history of New Orleans public education and the reform that has happened since Hurricane Katrina.  While of course not all post-Katrina developments have been positive, and there remains considerable room for improvement, I have been greatly encouraged both by the progress that has been made and the continued commitment of those who care about education in New Orleans.

As one of my final projects, I was tasked with putting together some encouraging facts about public education that we can be thankful for this holiday season.  Here are a few things that stood out to me:

• In the school year before Katrina, 2004-2005, 61 percent of New Orleans schools were considered Academically Unacceptable.  By 2009-2010, this had fallen to 26 percent.
• In 2004-2005, fewer than half of New Orleans’ students passed Louisiana’s high-stakes standardized tests.  Passage rates were 18 percentage points behind the state averages.  By 2010-2011, the performance gap between local and state averages had been reduced to 3 to 9 percentage points.
• In 2010-2011, African-American students in New Orleans out-performed African-American students across the state on high-stakes tests for the first time.
• In 2010-2011, 71 percent of the 40,000 public school students in New Orleans attended a charter school, the highest percentage in the nation.

This is just a small indication of the recent progress in education reform in the city.  It is my hope that through the continued dedication of our educators and our community, this progress will continue.

As I hope to remain in New Orleans as a permanent resident after graduation, I have a vested interested in the health of our school system.  I would like to thank the staff of the Cowen Institute for the opportunity to learn much more about such a profoundly important issue for our city.

Marshall Cox is a senior at Tulane majoring in history and international relations.  From Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, he has worked for the Memphis Music Foundation and the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment at Memphis City Schools.  After graduating from Tulane, he plans on attending law school and eventually practicing in the New Orleans area.