When The Saints Come Marching In: Effects Of Hurricanes Katrina And Rita On Student Evacuees
Bruce Sacerdote
Dartmouth University
September 2008

Abstract:


This report details the results from a study of academic performance measures over time for students who were displaced in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While there were sharp declines in test scores in the year immediately following the storms, the author found that students from Orleans Parish who left due to Katrina experienced improvement in scores and in college attendance rates in the second and third years after the storm. This did not hold true for students from the surrounding suburban parishes, who recovered their lost ground but saw no gains in their pre-Katrina test scores.