New Orleans kids continue to improve under the market-driven charter school system. This year 71% of all New Orleans public school students attend charter schools and 77% of students enrolled in grades K-8 attend charter schools. In addition, there is no residential assignment in New Orleans and even in traditional schools which are not charter schools there is open enrollment and the “money follows the kid.”
Today NOLA.Com reports on the continuing progress in New Orleans based on the just released test scores:
The largest gains overall came among the New Orleans schools the state took over after Katrina because of their historic poor performance. Most of those schools are now independent charters overseen by the RSD, which also runs a number of traditional schools.
RSD students, including charter and traditional campuses, posted their fourth-consecutive year of improvement, increasing the proportion of students scoring at grade level or above to 48 percent. That’s a 5 percent gain compared to 2010. With that progress, the proportion of RSD students scoring at grade level or better has more than doubled since 2007, from 23 percent to 48 percent.
RSD Superintendent John White said the results show the district is a national model for broader education reform efforts.”The New Orleans system of schools works. Period. End of story. And we cannot go back to a system that does not put children’s needs first.” he said. “These results should close the book on that question.”
New Orleans’ kids #winning. Let’s make choice and “money following the kids” a national model.