The good news out of New Orleans, where close to 80 percent of students are now in charter schools, just keeps coming. As the Times-Picayune reports:
New Orleans public schools are improving test scores more rapidly than the state as a whole among three critical groups: African-American students, low-income students and special education students. . . .
For the first time since Louisiana began keeping track, a higher percentage of African-American students in New Orleans schools scored at or above grade level on the state’s high-stakes test than those statewide: 53 percent in New Orleans compared to 51 percent in the state as a whole. That’s a milestone, especially considering that four years ago only 32 percent of African-American public school students in New Orleans could make that claim, compared to 43 percent statewide.