Just this past week, two of our open-admissions high schools have given us reason to celebrate. Sci Academy held a Senior Signing Day to honor the accomplishments of its first graduating senior class. Over 94% of their 55 graduates were accepted to a 4-year college. And Lake Area New Tech Early College High School reported that 100% of their 125 graduates were accepted to either a 2 or 4-year college.

For these two high schools,

• Over 90% of their graduates will be the first generation in their families to enter college. More than 95% qualify for free or reduced lunch. At Sci Academy, 10 entered high school on a waiver, having failed the 8th grade LEAP.
• Their seniors have been awarded over $2 million in financial aid and scholarships.
• Graduates of both schools received acceptances from local favorites, such as Tulane, Loyola, UNO, Xavier, and Dillard, but also from out of state schools such as Amherst, Sewanee, Vassar, Wesleyan, Smith, Boston University, Middlebury, Millsaps and Bard College.

When the levees broke in 2005, the graduating class 2012 was in middle school. Their lives and their education were disrupted. Yet, they have reached higher levels of academic attainment than ever before.

Our young people continue to face many challenges. Over the past few days, this was once again made painfully clear when the lives of two promising young KIPP students, Brandon Adams and Christine Marcelin, were cut short by the violence that has plagued our community for decades. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and the KIPP community.

We have lost at least 7 students this year to the violence of the streets. Providing our students with better educational and lifetime opportunities is critical to breaking the cycle of violence that has stolen too many lives. The success stories of Sci Academy and Lake Area New Tech Early College High School give us hope.

As we mourn the loss of these young lives, let us honor their memory by resolving to fight even harder to see that the youth of our city are given the necessary tools to live out their dreams.

• Economic Success of New Orleans
• Legislative Update
• What Does the Public Think?
• Other Louisiana Stories
• National News
• Closer to Home

Economic Success of New Orleans

Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
Brookings Institution – March 2012
Brookings has named Greater New Orleans one of the “20 Strongest Performing Metros” in the nation based on the strength of our economic recovery. Brookings looked at the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and New Orleans’ job growth and gains in economic output placed our city in their top 20. 

A New Orleans for The Future
The Huffington Post – March 23, 2012
A former New Orleanian returns to her hometown as part of NOLABound. She is amazed by the progress made since Katrina and excited that New Orleans has become a model of new business progress and thinking.

Legislative Update

The Governor’s Education package will be heard next week by the Senate. If approved without any new amendments, the bills will go to the Governor for his signature. If the bills are amended, they will need to go back the house for concurrence.

HB 976 Carter – The Choice Bill
The House adopted two key amendments to the Choice Bill. Representative Neil Abramson’s (New Orleans) amendment requires the Department of Education to “develop criteria for participation that includes criteria for participating students at participating schools” by August 1, 2012. It will now be up to Superintendent John White and BESE to develop criteria that, once adopted, cannot be altered except “by an act of the legislature.”

The second key change, offered by Representative Fanin (Jonesboro), gives placement priority to students “who attended or otherwise would be attending a pubic school” with a D or F over students from C schools.

Bobby Jindal-Backed Education Bills Near the Final Bell in Louisiana Legislature
The Times-Picayune – March 29, 2012

Louisiana House OKs Jindal’s Plan for Statewide School Vouchers
Alexandria Town Talk – March 23, 2012

Changes Loom for Charters
The Advocate – April 1, 2012

One issue that is still generating buzz is whether the vouchers are using local as well as state dollars. As the bill currently stands, it is irrelevant to a school district whether the voucher money is technically coming from state and/or local funds – the school district loses the same amount of money.

Louisiana School Voucher Bill Argument Centers on Local Dollars
The Times-Picayune – March 31, 2012

HB 969 Talbot 5
House Bill 969 provides a 100% tax rebate (dollar for dollar) for any donation to certain independent nonprofit groups that would, in turn, grant private-school tuition scholarships to students who live in households at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. (That’s about $56,000 for a family of four.) The student must be entering kindergarten or transferring from a public school. The amount of the scholarship is capped at 80% of the state share of the local district’s MFP funding for K-8 students and 90% for high school students ($3,500-$5,000).

Editor’s note: This bill will likely impact many more private schools as the school is allowed to keep its entrance requirements, charge tuition above the scholarship level, and students do not take the state tests.

House Approves Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Proposal Rewarding Donations for Private School Tuition
The Times-Picayune – March 27, 2012

Other Legislative News

House Passes Gov. Jindal’s Teacher Tenure Changes After Midnight
The Times-Picayune – March 23, 2012

Senate Passes Jindal’s Early Childhood Education Bill
The Times-Picayune – March 21, 2012

What Does the Public Think?

By the Numbers
Public Policy Research Lab – March 2012

• LSU has released polling results of its 2012 Statewide Survey.
• 86% of Louisiana residents believe fundamental change or total overhaul is needed to fix public education.
• Most support performance (58%) over seniority (30%) in determining pay for public school teachers.
• 78% support funding pre-K for any 4 year old.
• 70% favor or strongly favor charter schools, while only 48% favor or strongly favor vouchers.
• Both charters (78%) and vouchers (56%) were more strongly supported in New Orleans than elsewhere in the state.

Other Louisiana Stories

High Poverty, Predominantly African-American Schools in Louisiana
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools – March 26, 2012
This analysis of Louisiana’s open-enrollment public schools shows charters outperformed traditional, district-run schools and achieved greater academic improvement during the past five years. The study looked at public schools where 85% or more of students were eligible for the federal free lunch program and 90% or more of students were African-American.

Letters: State Superintendent Disappointed in Letters
The Advocate – March 28, 2012
State Superintendent John White is disappointed by recent letters published in The Advocate. He says the letters, written by professional educators, “show a sad belief among some that poverty is destiny in America, defying our core value that any child, no matter race, class or creed, can be the adult he or she dreams of being.”

National News

AT&T Makes $250 Million Pledge to Fund Education Programs
Education Week – March 19, 2012
AT&T is giving $250 million in grants to promote high school graduation and career readiness over the next five years. The company is accepting applications until April 27 to fund programs working to improve high school graduation rates, especially programs that use social innovation to reach underserved populations and those at risk of dropping out. For more information go to the AT&T Aspire Local High School Impact Initiative.

Survey: Teachers Place Little Value on Standardized Tests
Education Week – March 20, 2012
According to a new report published by Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, most teachers do not believe standardized tests have significant value as a measure of student performance. Less than a third of teachers surveyed thought the state-required tests were an important gauge of student achievement or an accurate reflection of what students know.

Tighter Security for SAT, ACT in Wake of Cheating
Associated Press – March 27, 2012
To help prevent cheating on the SAT and ACT this year, each student will be required to submit a photo of themselves in advance of the test. That photo will then be matched to the ID presented on test day and will also be attached to a copy of the test results sent to the student’s school.

Parents: The Missing Engine Behind School Reform
New America Media – March 26, 2012
A series of forums brought education reformers and community media representatives together in Atlanta, Memphis, Miami and New Orleans. The consensus: improving public education is a civil rights issue, but parents must become fully involved and the media must help to engage them. Neerav Kingsland from New Schools for New Orleans and Dr. Andre Perry from Loyola participated in the forum.

Closer to Home

Rebuilding John McDonogh Senior High School
MSNBC – March 27, 2012
Digger Phelps appeared with Superintendent John White on MSNBC’s Morning Joe as the state announced a $35 million commitment to renovating John McDonogh Senior High School and turning it into one of the great culinary high schools in America.

Algiers Schools Listed to Leave Charter Network Could Remain for Another Year
The Times-Picayune – March 19, 2012
The Orleans Parish School Board announced that the Algiers Charter School Association will continue to manage Alice Harte Elementary and Edna Karr High School for at least one more year to help ease the transition for students, parents and employees. The School Board will begin seeking new operators in the fall, aiming for a transition in 2013-14.

Orleans Parish School Board Takes First Steps Toward Possible Layoffs, Tax Increase
The Times-Picayune – March 20, 2012
Rising costs and uncertain revenues have the Orleans Parish School Board looking at potential layoffs. Additionally, the Board took the first step to roll forward the property millage this year, after being the only taxing body in the city to not roll forward the millage last year. The Recovery School District, the Eastbank Collaborative, the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, Citizens for One New Orleans and Educate Now! all thanked OPSB for revisiting this issue and expressed their support for the roll forward.

New Orleans School Board President Says He’s Fighting Modern Fascism
The Times-Picayune – March 19, 2012
The Times-Picayune profiles School Board President Thomas Robichaux, who believes that public education is not really public unless local voters have a say in who governs it. Robichaux says charter schools in New Orleans should answer to the local board, not a state board that meets most of the time in Baton Rouge.

From Leading Students to Leading Teachers: Group Works to Make Schools Better
The Times-Picayune – April 1, 2012
Leading Educators, a new national nonprofit based in New Orleans, is training teachers to take on more responsibility within their schools. The goal is to move more teachers into leadership positions, creating diverse career paths for teachers so that more young teachers will remain in education long term.

Over the next two weeks, you will be asked to vote for the Choice Bill (HB 976 and SB 597), which will make over 350,000 public school students eligible for vouchers. Done well, it can change lives, giving students trapped in failing schools better educational opportunities and improving education statewide. Done poorly, it will waste taxpayer money and financially strain local school districts.

So, let’s pass a good bill – one that will use our tax dollars to provide a better education for public school students. As it currently stands, the bill has two key flaws that you can easily fix.

First, the current bill fails to protect against fraud or mismanagement of tax dollars. 

Our tax dollars – including local property and sales taxes approved for local schools – follow a student who receives a voucher to a private (or parochial) school.

Private schools may spend this money as they please. Few, if any, state laws or regulations apply. Elsewhere in government, recipients of public money are subject to rules to prevent public funds from being misspent.

This bill lacks these safeguards. A school receiving these monies could hire family and friends and pay them excessive salaries, use the school’s credit card for lavish meals and buy luxury cars for board members and employees. BESE spent years shutting down poorly managed charters and imposing rules to prevent the very behavior this bill permits.

These expenditures would be legal with voucher money – our tax dollars. There is no requirement that the money go to teachers, students and the classroom. There is no provision to establish any rules or regulations. To the contrary, the bill expressly prohibits “any additional regulation of participating schools.”

While the bill empowers the legislative auditor to “return to the state any funds that were expended in a manner inconsistent with state law or program regulations,” there are few state laws or regulations that apply.¹

The legislation needs to allow BESE to establish reasonable rules and regulations as a condition of taking taxpayer money.

Second, there are no performance requirements.

The rationale for expanding choice is to spend our tax dollars more wisely to improve education in Louisiana.

Parents spend their hard-earned money to send their child to a private school for any number of reasons: academic rigor; it’s close to home; it’s where they went; they prefer a religious education. But when it is taxpayer money paying their child’s tuition at the private school – just as with traditional and charter schools – taxpayers need to know our dollars are being used to provide the student with a good education.

Yet, the bill has no performance requirements for participating schools.

Voucher students are required to take state tests, and those results are reported, but a participating school can fail to educate its voucher students, year after year, and still keep taking taxpayer money. There are no consequences. The bill requires a private school to be approved by BESE on the front end, but BESE’s approval process is perfunctory and not a proxy for quality.²

When we know a private school is not educating its current voucher students, we should not allow them to continue taking new ones.

As is the case with charter schools, make participating schools meet performance standards for their voucher students if they are going to continue to take public money.

The legislation must permit BESE to establish performance standards once schools have been in the program at least three years.

The Choice Bill allows any private school that has been in operation two or more years to be comprised of 100% voucher students. We will have schools that are 100% voucher.³  With private schools, we rely on tuition-paying parents to demand results for their money.  With voucher schools, paid for with our tax dollars, shouldn’t taxpayers demand the same?

The governor has put forth a bold agenda that can improve education in Louisiana. These shortcomings in the Choice Bill could be resolved with a simple amendment [section 4021(3)] adding the words: “Beginning in 2013, meets and maintains standards which are to be established by the state board,” allowing BESE to implement policy for the voucher program. Or, you may prefer to amend the bill with more prescriptive language.

Either way, let’s get the details right.

Leslie Jacobs
Founder
Educate Now! 

¹   In January 2001, at the request of BESE, the legislative auditor examined St. Landry Charter School. Among the many findings, the school was paying a related party $23,000/month rent on a building that should have rented for $8000/month. As the auditor noted, it is a “cause for concern” but “there are no state laws…or regulations…that prohibit the school from paying such a large lease payment.”   

²   The bill allows any private school approved, provisionally approved, or probationally approved by BESE to participate in the voucher program. BESE’s approval process does not evaluate the experience of the team operating the school or the school’s academic performance. It does not include any qualitative analysis. The application only asks for the most basic documentation on the school. 

³  At least a third of the schools in the New Orleans voucher pilot now have more than 50% of their student population on vouchers. The highest percentage is 78% voucher students. The largest number of voucher students in a school is 270. And the program is not yet fully phased in.

• A Big Leap Forward
• Weighing in on the Legislative Agenda
• A How-To Guide for New Orleans-Style Reform
• Tougher Expulsion Policies Don’t Equal More Crime
• Charter Accountability
• National Education Stories
• Local News

A Big Leap Forward

The Big Easy’s Business Leap Forward
The Wall Street Journal – March 16, 2012
The Wall Street Journal celebrates New Orleans’ entrepreneurial boom and the new risk-taking spirit in New Orleans exemplified by Idea Village’s fourth annual Entrepreneur Week, which featured 525 start-up companies competing for more than $1 million in capital and consulting services.
 
Editor’s Note: Jen Medbery, founder of Drop the Chalk/Kickboard, won Entrepreneur Week’s top award – the Coulter Challenge IDEApitch. Congratulations Jen for marrying the education reform movement with the city’s entrepreneurial renaissance.

Weighing in on the Legislative Agenda

Bobby Jindal School Voucher Plan Worries Watchdog Group
The Times-Picayune – March 13, 2012
The Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) is calling for major revisions to the school voucher bill. BGR’s report, Making Choice Right, Can Private School Vouchers Live Up to their Promises, reviews the results of the New Orleans pilot program, outlines concerns with the proposed voucher expansion, and calls for greater academic and financial accountability. BGR says that without the proper safeguards, a voucher program will not live up to its promises and could do damage to public schools.

PAR Says Strengthen Accountability to Strengthen Education Reforms
Public Affairs Research Council – March 13, 2012
PAR also urges legislators to strengthen the accountability measures in the governor’s proposed legislation to ensure that children who benefit from the reforms still receive the quality education they deserve.

Education Reform Proposals Move Forward
Council for a Better Louisiana – March 15, 2012
CABL, a nonpartisan, statewide organization, issued a statement supporting the key elements of the governor’s education package and testified in favor of all the bills in committee. They also suggested strengthening the School Choice Bill by adding more accountability, including consequences for participating schools if academic goals are not met and giving priority to students who would be attending a D or F school.

Department Releases White Paper on Proposals to Change Personnel Policies and Practices for Educators
Louisiana Department of Education – March 12, 2012
This white paper from the Louisiana Department of Education looks at how proposed legislation will affect personnel policies and practices for teachers and school leaders. It provides an overview of the current policies, outlines the proposed legislation, and summarizes the projected impact on educators, educational leaders, and students.

Louisiana Teachers to Flood Capitol for Debate on Jindal Education Bills
The Times-Picayune – March 13, 2012
Teachers from across the state descended on Baton Rouge to protest proposed legislation that will curtail tenure protections for new teachers and make it easier to fire existing ones. At least four public school districts in Louisiana were forced to cancel classes because of a lack of teachers.

Real Jindal Shows Face
Monroe News Star – March 16, 2012
The local Monroe paper is concerned that the governor is so determined to push through his education agenda, he is unwilling to listen to comments or debate. While the paper supports the idea of public education reform, they “do not support the idea that those who are not in lockstep or those who want to learn more or question should be quashed.”

A How-To Guide for New Orleans-Style Reform

School Reform, New Orleans-Style
Education Weekly – March 16, 2012
For some time, other cities have looked to New Orleans as an example of how to turn around a failing school system. New Schools for New Orleans has released a how-to guide for New Orleans-style education reform to help other cities interested in transforming their education system. The release of New Orleans-Style Education Reform: A Guide for Cities was announced at a roundtable discussion hosted by Sen. Mary Landrieu.

Tougher Expulsion Policies Don’t Equal More Crime

Crime and School Discipline Policies in New Orleans
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools – February 15, 2012
The Louisiana Association of Public Charter School (LAPCS) recently analyzed crime data for New Orleans to find out if the tougher school expulsion policies are leading to a higher crime rate. The answer they found is “No.” The years with the highest violent crime rates in New Orleans were during the 1990s, a time when expulsion policies were far more lenient than they are today.

Charter Accountability

Shuttering Bad Charter Schools
New York Times – February 20, 2012
A new study from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers shows that each year fewer and fewer charter schools are being shut down. According to the New York Times, this raises troubling concerns about the management practices of the charter authorizers who oversee the nation’s approximately 5,600 charters.

National Education Stories

The “Last Word” on Milwaukee Vouchers Should Lead Us to New Debates on Standards
Education Gadfly – February 27, 2012
A five-year, longitudinal study of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the country’s first private school voucher program, showed voucher students made larger reading gains than their counterparts in Milwaukee Public Schools, and voucher students continue to show higher graduation rates. The study’s principal investigator says higher standards and accountability in the final year of the study played a role in the achievement gains.

Q&A: Khan Academy Creator Talks About K-12 Innovation
Education Week – March 5, 2012
Education Week interviews Salman Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit organization that has built a free, online collection of thousands of digital lessons and exercises in subjects ranging from algebra to microeconomics. Mr. Kahn talks about the evolution of the academy and its potential for changing K-12 education.

Survey: Teacher Job Satisfaction Hits a Low Point
Education Week – March 7, 2012
The 28th annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher found that teacher job satisfaction is at the lowest it’s been in more than two decades. According to the survey, 44% of teachers are “very satisfied” with their jobs, down from 59% in 2009. In addition, 29% of teachers say they are likely to leave the teaching profession within the next five years, up from 17% in 2009. On a more positive note, teachers feel parent engagement is on the rise.

Evaluating the NYC Core Knowledge Early Literacy Pilot: Year 3 Report
Education Gadfly – March 15, 2012
The three-year results from New York City’s Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) pilot reading program are very promising. CKLA uses early reading instruction and content-rich “read-alouds” to introduce all students – and low-income students specifically – to the “core” common knowledge needed to navigate society. Students in the program had reading gains five times greater than students taught using other reading strategies. Core Knowledge students also scored higher on science and social studies content-based tests than students using other reading strategies.

Local News

Orleans Parish School Board Considers New Structure for District
The Times-Picayune – March 15, 2012
The Orleans Parish School Board is considering a plan that would change the administrative structure of the district. Under the proposed plan, the current superintendent would focus on the academics and curriculum of the district’s traditional schools. The Board would appoint two new deputy superintendents who would report directly to the board – one who would be in charge of the district’s charter office and one who would oversee finance and operations.

Algiers Schools Network Seeking New Board Members
The Times-Picayune – March 13, 2012
The Algiers Charter Schools Association is seeking new members for its board of trustees. Candidates should be an Algiers resident, hold at least bachelor’s degree, have a record of involvement with the community or schools, and have a background in either business management, education, finance, legal or policymaking. The application deadline is 4 p.m. on March 30.

Orleans Parish School Board Approves New Voting-District Boundaries
The Times-Picayune – February 28, 2012
The Orleans Parish School Board has approved new boundaries for their voting districts. The racially tinged debate was finally settled with a last-minute compromise that included a swap of voting precincts. Elections are this November.

Orleans School Board Will Hold Meeting Tonight to Answer Questions on the Future of Harte and Karr
The Times-Picayune – February 23, 2012
The Orleans Parish School Board is holding community meetings to discuss the future of Alice Harte Elementary and Edna Karr High School. These two successful schools are Orleans Parish School Board charters that have been run by the Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA). OPSB and ACSA couldn’t come to a management agreement for next year, and until OPSB finds a new charter manager, the future of the two schools remains uncertain.

Over Union Objections, Jefferson Parish Schools Going Outside for New Teachers
The Times-Picayune – March 12, 2012
Jefferson Parish is signing a contract with The New Teacher Project (TNTP) for teacher training and recruitment. Superintendent James Meza said he chose TNTP because they rank among Louisiana’s top performing teacher preparation programs, and they focus on placing teachers in key content areas, such as math and science.

N.O. Schools Get Multi-Million-Dollar Grant
WWL-TV – March 7, 2012
The Walton Family Foundation gave grants in the New Orleans area that totaled more than $5 million last year. The Morris Jeff Community School, the New Orleans Military Maritime Academy, and KIPP New Orleans schools are just a few of the schools that received grant money from Walton. KIPP plans to use the money to grow its group of schools from nine to 12 in New Orleans by 2015.

This Wednesday the House Education Committee and this Thursday the Senate Education Committee will hear his three foundational bills.

• Rep. Carter’s House Bill 976 and Sen. Appel’s SB 597, which expand school choice, including the scholarship program, pathways for charter schools, the providers who can offer courses to K-12 students, and a “parent trigger” for failing schools.

• Rep. Carter’s House Bill 974 and Sen. Appel’s SB 603, which link teacher tenure to performance, make effectiveness the primary criterion for personnel decisions, and grant authority for hiring and placement of personnel to school superintendents.

• Rep. Carter’s House Bill 933 and Sen. Appel’s SB 581, which outline a framework for a single coordinated early childhood education system with accountability for academic outcomes.

Comments on the Governor’s Education Package

Gov. Bobby Jindal Education Overhaul Legislation Introduced
The Times-Picayune – March 3, 2012
This article outlines the governor’s ambitious plans, provides details on the different bills to be debated, and presents arguments for and against his most controversial proposals to overhaul teacher tenure and expand vouchers.

Jindal’s Education Moon Shot
The Wall Street Journal – January 31, 2012
In one legislative session, Louisiana’s governor wants to create America’s largest school voucher program, its broadest parental choice system, and its toughest teacher accountability regime. The Wall Street Journal calls this the governor’s “education moon shot” and says, if he succeeds, it would be one giant leap for Louisiana children.

Ravich: Bobby Jindal vs. Public Education
Education Week – March 6, 2012
Diane Ravich calls the governor’s agenda an unprecedented onslaught against public education and an unfair attack on teachers.

The Voucher Debate

Within the school choice bills (HB 976 and SB 597), the item that has generated the most media interest is the proposed expansion of vouchers.

So what does the voucher bill do?

It expands the voucher program statewide, making more than 350,000 students eligible.

Who is eligible?

• Any student who meets the income eligibility standard of 250% of the poverty line at the time they enter the program. (There is no requirement to prove eligibility in subsequent years.) AND
• Is entering kindergarten OR
• Attending a public school with a letter grade of C, D or F

Who gets preference?

If there are more students applying then there are slots, the Department of Education will conduct an enrollment process similar to a lottery. There are no admission criteria allowed, although the school retains its academic and disciplinary requirements for students attending.

• Siblings get preference
• Kindergarten students enrolled in a nonpublic school pre-K program get preference

Other Key Points

• Funded with MFP dollars
• All scholarship students must take the state tests
• The department will give parents information on the scholarship students at each school, including performance on state tests, parent satisfaction survey results, and retention rates (what percentage of students stay year to year).

Many have weighed in on the pros and cons of the proposed voucher expansion. Here is a sampling of the debate:

The Concerns – An Overview

Some of the concerns are well expressed in Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans’ letter to committee members:

Open Letter to the House and Senate Education Committees
Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans – March 12, 2012
In an open letter to the House and Senate Education Committees, Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans recommends changes to the proposed voucher legislation in order to improve accountability for voucher schools, prioritize need, and limit the percentage of voucher students a private school can enroll.

Accountability Concerns

Louisiana Should Be Shown Proof that Private School Vouchers Are Worth It: Jarvis DeBerry
The Times-Picayune – February 5, 2012
Jarvis DeBerry says voucher schools should be held to the same state accountability standards as regular public schools. Perry says it’s not enough to just say voucher schools are better, he wants proof before he will become a voucher supporter.

Accountability Would Make Voucher Plan Better: Letter
The Times-Picayune – March 10, 2012
In this letter to the editor, Robbie Evans points out that the governor’s plan for vouchers lacks accountability, with consequences, in the event that voucher schools do not perform well.

Don’t Weaken Louisiana’s School Voucher Rules: An Editorial
The Times-Picayune – March 10, 2012
The Times-Picayune is concerned that proposed voucher legislation would actually weaken current voucher accountability requirements. Current law limits the number of voucher students in a new private or parochial school to no more than 20% of its student population, unless its governing board has a proven track record of success. The new law would allow a newly formed school to take unlimited voucher students simply by providing a letter of credit or a surety bond. A letter of credit might show financial security, but it certainly doesn’t prove the board can run a successful school.

More Aid Accountability Sought
The Advocate – February 13, 2012
Louisiana’s superintendents are asking the Jindal administration to require letter grades be given to private and parochial schools that accept voucher students, just like public schools.

Report: Jindal’s Push to Expand School Vouchers Lacks Accountability
Greater Baton Rouge Business Report – February 14, 2012
A new report by the Louisiana Budget Project gives Gov. Jindal’s plan to expand the state’s voucher program an “F” for accountability.

Constitutionality Concerns

Teachers Union to Lawmakers: Jindal Voucher Plan Unconstitutional
The Times-Picayune – March 8, 2012
Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, says redirecting MFP funds to cover private and parochial school tuition is in violation of Louisiana’s Constitution, which he says, “clearly reserves MFP funds for public elementary and secondary schools” and could divert locally dedicated taxes to other purposes.

Focus on the Neediest First

Shaping Education Plan: Democrats Want to Tweak Jindal’s School Agenda
The Advocate – March 6, 2012
While Democrats have no plans to offer sweeping alternatives to the governor’s public school agenda, they do plan to help shape any education bills through amendments. For example, instead of allowing all students in a school rated C, D or F to be eligible for vouchers, an amendment might limit eligibility to D and F schools and give preference to students in F-rated schools.

The Proponents Answer Concerns

Render Unto Caesar What is Caesar’s
Louisiana Family Forum – March 2, 2012
The president of the Louisiana Family Forum says that increased accountability for voucher schools is unnecessary because parents already decide success and failure in private education. He also says that no church-run school should have to adopt the onerous and unproductive edicts that accountability imposes.

Department Releases White Paper on Proposed Statewide Scholarship Program
Louisiana Department of Education – March 6, 2012
The Louisiana Department of Education has released a white paper that lays out the steps the department would take to implement the governor’s proposed plan to expand the voucher program. View the complete white paper.

Voucher Program Will Draw Few at First, La. Schools Chief Says
Associated Press – March 6, 2012
Although an estimated 380,000 students would be eligible for school vouchers under the governor’s plan, Superintendent of Education John White says he expects a much smaller number of parent’s would apply at first, only around 2,000.

State Superintendent: No Admissions Testing for Voucher Students
Greater Baton Rouge Business Report – March 6, 2012
Superintendent John White says that private schools with selective admissions criteria that choose to participate in the state’s voucher program would not be allowed to apply the same criteria to students with vouchers.

Other Commentary on the Governor’s Agenda

Vouchers aren’t the only thing on the Legislative agenda generating media interest. The overhaul of teacher tenure and teacher evaluations and the expansion of charter school authorizers are also in the news.

Teacher Tenure and Evaluations

Every Child Deserves the Best Teacher: A Guest Column by Rayne Martin
The Times-Picayune – March 10, 2012
Rayne Martin, the executive director of Stand for Children-Louisiana, says the new teacher evaluation system is a fair system designed to support teachers’ and leaders’ development through clear job expectations. She is also in favor of transforming Louisiana’s tenure system and linking compensation to effectiveness. Stand for Children has prepared policy briefs on teacher evaluation, tenure, compensation, and reductions in force.

Expanding Charter School Authorizers

Proposal to Expand Charter School Authorizing Elicits Mixed Reviews
The Times-Picayune – February 13, 2012
Gov. Jindal would like to expand the number and type of groups that can approve new charter schools in Louisiana. Currently, only local school boards and the state board of education can approve charters. Many experts worry that opening up charter school creation to nonprofits, community groups, and universities would lead to a less rigorous authorization process resulting in low performing charter schools.

How to Contact Legislators

It is expected that these bills will move quickly out of committee. If you want to contact a committee member about any of the issues in the proposed legislation, here’s a Contact List for the members of the House and Senate Education Committees.

The resolution approved yesterday includes some major changes that align with the Governor’s K-12 reform agenda. The underlying philosophy of these changes is the money to educate a child should follow that child to a broader array of education providers – not just public elementary and secondary schools.

Background on the MFP: The MFP stands for the Minimum Foundation Plan and is the formula that provides the funding for public schools in Louisiana. It includes the local share (local property and sales taxes dedicated to K-12 education) as well as the state share (money paid by the state.) BESE approves an MFP resolution every year, which the legislature can only vote to approve or reject – they cannot amend it.

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS (VOUCHERS)

If the legislature votes in favor of this resolution, Student Scholarships will be included in the MFP. The pilot voucher program in New Orleans was funded with state dollars outside of the MFP and had to be annually appropriated by the legislature. By including the vouchers in the MFP, the scholarships will now be funded using both state and local revenues and have the constitutional funding protection provided by the MFP.

• Funding: Scholarship students will be included in the public school student count of the local school district and are eligible to receive the state and local share of the MFP. The local school district is required to pay any participating nonpublic school for the scholarship students it serves.
  • These schools will get the lesser of either their tuition and fees or the per pupil MFP. (Currently the average voucher is less than $5,000 per student; the average per pupil MFP statewide is around $9,000.)
  • BESE will establish a reduced maximum for participating schools that do not provide services for students with special needs (special education students), which will be less than the full per pupil MFP.
  • BESE will also be limiting the maximum annual tuition increase that participating schools can charge the program.
• Accountability: BESE already has the constitutional authority to approve non-public schools to operate, and this authority allows them to set standards and accountability for the voucher program. The board took its first step towards applying this authority to the voucher program, by including language in the resolution that says in administering the scholarship program, BESE shall establish an accountability mechanism that abides by the law.

Constitutionality Questions Remain

Assuming the legislature approves the resolution, there are still questions surrounding the constitutionality of including the voucher students within the MFP. Louisiana’s constitution states that BESE “shall annually develop and adopt a formula which shall be used to determine the cost of a minimum foundation program of education in all public elementary and secondary schools.” (emphasis added) If inclusion in the MFP is challenged, a court will need to decide on its constitutionality. Until then, it is assumed to be constitutional.

Other Significant Changes

While most people have been focusing on the Scholarship Program, the two changes below will impact many more students, and in time, could redefine the high school experience.

EDUCATIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

To further expand choice and educational options, the Resolution now requires school districts to pay for eligible public school students to enroll in:

• Courses at universities, community and technical colleges for post-secondary credit (dual enrollment)
• Online courses required for graduation
• Industry Based Certification Programs
• And other providers approved by BESE

Districts must pay either the cost of the course or one-sixth of 90% of the per pupil MFP, whichever is less.

EARLY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Beginning in 2013-14, public high school students who graduate a year or a semester early will receive funds that can be used within one year of graduating to pay the cost of tuition, fees or housing at an institution of higher education. Students who graduate a year early would have access to 50% of the per pupil MFP; those graduating a semester early have access to 25% of the per pupil MFP.

Financial Impact on New Orleans Public Schools

There is no way to predict the full impact on schools – especially the high schools – without some idea of the number of students who avail themselves of these options.

It is possible to calculate the impact the changes to the formula will have on the per pupil amount schools will receive. Counter intuitively, schools will receive around $90 more per student with the addition of the Scholarship Program, along with some other changes. The MFP formula is complicated. For those who want to know why funding would go up when thousands more students are added, see the note below

For More Information

For more information on the proposed changes to the MFP:

Using Public Money to Pay for Private School Vouchers is Approved by State Education Board
The Times-Picayune – February 27, 2012

BESE Approves 2012-13 La. School Funding Formula
The Associated Press – February 27, 2012

Why the per pupil funding will go up: The MFP has both the local and the state component. The local portion will go down on a per student basis. The locally generated revenues (sales and property taxes) are the same irrespective of the number of students. Due to the changes, the local revenues will now be divided up among several thousand more students. However, the addition of these students will increase the amount the state contributes on a per student basis. Why? The MFP does a local wealth calculation. How much does a penny of sales tax and a mil of property tax generate on a per student basis. When our student count goes up, Orleans becomes less wealthy, so the state increases its share. The increase in the state share is estimated to be $90 more than the decrease in the local share. Go figure!

• Schools More Diverse; High Poverty Stays the Same
• RSD Headlines
• Enrollment Begins for 2012-13
• National Education Stories
• Louisiana’s Education Leaders in the News
• Governor’s Reform Agenda

Orleans Public School Enrollment Continues to Climb with Increase in Diversity and Charter Choice

• New Orleans continues its steady increase in enrollment, growing from 39,877 students last year to 42,030 this year.
• The student population continues to diversify, with the percentage of non-African American students growing to 13.7% this year, up from 11.3% last year and 6.6% before Katrina.
• The percentage of students attending charter schools increased sizably, from 71% last year to 77.5% this year
• The percent of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch has remained fairly constant – 83.5% – and is more than 16 percentage points higher than the state average.

View student enrollment for OPSB and RSD by year and by sub-group (white, black, free, reduced).
View the Oct 1 student enrollment by school.

For more information on children in New Orleans, read this report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It includes demographic and socio-economic data as well as information on educational achievement.

RSD Headlines

Recovery School District Releases ‘Equity Report’
Associated Press – February 15, 2012
The RSD has released a new Equity Report that provides information on schools by categories, such as graduation rates, academic performance, and enrollment of students with disabilities. View Equity Reports for each individual RSD school.

Recovery School District Finds Solution to Expensive Insurance
The Times-Picayune – February 16, 2012
RSD’s school buildings will now be included in an insurance pool with other state-insured properties, eliminating the need for a state subsidy on insurance. RSD schools will now pay between $150-$20 per student for property insurance.

Critics of New Orleans School Charter Approval Process Have Voice on Task Force
The Times-Picayune – February 23, 2012
Responding to criticism that the process used to evaluate and approve charter applications favors national organizations at the expense of local groups, the RSD has formed a task force of more than two dozen people from education-related groups to examine ways to improve the charter review process. The task force consists of some of the state’s most vocal critics, including groups that have tried unsuccessfully to write charters for George Washington Carver, L.B. Landry and Sarah T. Reed high schools.

Keep Children First in Review of Louisiana School Chartering Process: An Editorial
The Times-Picayune – February 26, 2012
The Times-Picayune agrees that it is important to give community groups a voice in the chartering process, but even more important is that the approval of new charter schools remains driven by what is best for children and that any new charters will have a strong likelihood of success.

Enrollment Begins for 2012-13

Recovery School District’s New Application Is Expected to Make School Search Easier
The Times-Picayune – February 6, 2012
Parents can now fill out a single application for enrollment in any RSD school. On the new application, parents rank their top eight choices and turn it in at any school in the RSD. The district will then assign students based on the preference order they indicated on the form. Students living close to a school will get preference at that campus, as well as siblings of current students. The Orleans Parish School Board’s schools are not part of this streamlined process.

Guide for Parents Seeking a Public School in New Orleans
The Times-Picayune – February 24, 2012
The Parent Organizing Network has released its 2012 New Orleans Parents’ Guide to Public Schools. The Guide provides information about every public school in New Orleans as well as tips to help parents find and fight for quality public schools.

For more information on high schools in New Orleans see the Urban League’s New Orleans Guide to High Schools.

National Education Stories

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say
New York Times – February 9, 2012
While the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially. New studies show that family income now appears more determinative of educational success than race.

Study: School Choice Lottery Winners Commit Fewer Crimes
Education Week – February 15, 2012
A new study analyzes the impact of winning a school choice lottery on the criminal activity of students in North Carolina. The study finds that high-risk students admitted to their preferred school commit 50% less crime, are slightly more likely to stay enrolled in school, and are less likely to be absent or suspended than their peers who lose the lottery.

Charters Near Top-and Bottom-of California Rankings
Education Week – February 23, 2012
A study released by the California Charter School Association found that California charters are more likely than non-charters to be among the state’s top performers-and also more likely to be among the state’s lowest performers. It also found that charters run by Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) were more likely to be among the highest performing. In addition, family income had much less of an impact on school performance among charters than it did at non-charters, proving demographics are not destiny.

Lessons from a Great School
The Economist – February 4, 2012
In England, some failing schools are turned into “academies” – state schools that are removed from local council control and given new freedoms over staffing and teaching methods. One such academy, Paddington, has produced fabulous results, showing that greater school autonomy can bring greater success for students.

Louisiana’s Education Leaders in the News

In Katrina’s Wake, New Orleans’ Schools Reinvent Themselves Around Competition
Seattle Times – January 31, 2012
Former State Superintendent Paul Pastorek is still active in education. Before speaking at the Washington Policy Center’s education lunch in Seattle, he wrote this editorial for the Seattle Times. Pastorek says that in New Orleans, decentralization, school-based accountability, and competition for the privilege of teaching kids marked a new, better way of doing things.

Straight Up Conversation: New Louisiana Schools Chief John White
Education Week – February 6, 2012
John White sits down with Education Week to discuss his new role as State Superintendent, his top priorities for reform, his new relationship with the RSD, the successes he will build upon, and the challenges he faces going forward.

School Chiefs’ Group Elbows Into Policy Fight
Education Week – January 31, 2012
“Chiefs for Change” is an invitation-only group of eleven current and former state school chiefs with a shared agenda for education reform. Their causes include teacher evaluations tied to student achievement, more school choices for families, rewards for successful schools and intensive interventions for failing ones, and transparent accountability systems. Louisiana’s state superintendent John White and former superintendent Paul Pastorek are both members.

Homegrown Educator Must Soothe Tensions, Establish Vision for Troubled N.O. Schools
The Republic – February 13, 2012
As the new head of the Recovery School District, native New Orleanian Patrick Dobard must address the tensions of the past while charting a course for the future.

Governor’s Reform Agenda

Governor Jindal has announced a sweeping education reform agenda that addresses many “hot button” issues, including expanding vouchers, creating more charter schools and changing teacher tenure.

Next week, Educate Now! will begin exploring this agenda, beginning with the school voucher program.

• What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?
• The Case for Charter School Districts
• Gov. Jindal’s Plan for Education Reform
• National Education Stories
• RSD in the News
• In Other News
• Announcements

What Can Ohio Learn from the RSD?

What Can Ohio Learn from the Louisiana Recovery School District?
Education Gadfly – January 17, 2012
According to Ohio’s Fordham Institute, the speed and scale of improvements in Louisiana’s Recovery School District is vastly superior to anything they’ve seen in Ohio’s troubled schools. Fordham commissioned a report on the RSD to learn more about what’s working, what’s not, and what lessons can be applied in the Buckeye State.

The Case for Charter School Districts

New Orleans’ own Neerav Kingsland, chief strategy officer for New Schools for New Orleans, argues that the single most important reform strategy urban superintendents can undertake is to increase charter school quality and market share.

In this five part series for Education Week online, Kingsland asks urban superintendents to become “Relinquishers,” leaders who are willing to transfer power away from a centralized bureaucracy and back to parents and educators.

Part I: An Open Letter to Urban Superintendents in the United States of America
Part II: The Proof is in the Etouffe: 75% of Rigorously Studied Urban Charter Markets Work
Part III: Why Charter Districts Can Work-and Why They Might Not
Part IV: The 5% Rule and the 5 Year Rule: How to Prudently Grow a High-Performing Charter District
Part V: How to Create a Charter District-And Some Concluding Thoughts

Gov. Jindal’s Plan for Education Reform

Jindal’s Education Plan Touches Sensitive Issues
Monroe News Star – January 17, 2012
Governor Jindal has announced a sweeping education reform agenda that addresses many “hot button” issues, including expanding vouchers, changing teacher tenure, giving more authority to superintendents and principals for hiring and firing, and creating more charter schools.

National Education Stories

States Weaken Teacher Tenure Rights
Associated Press – January 25, 2012
Around the country, there has been a significant shift in state laws affecting public school teachers. State laws passed in the last few years weaken tenure protections, tie teacher evaluations to student performance, and base layoffs on performance rather than seniority.

12 for 2012: Issues to Move Education Forward in 2012
Education Commission of the States – January 2012
For the policy wonks out there, this report is for you. It identifies 12 critical policy issues that will be the drivers of change in the coming year, such as individualized instruction, teacher quality, expanding P-K to P-3, and Common Core Standards.

Babies Read Lips While Learning to Speak, Researchers Find
Education Week – January 18, 2012
A new study shows that when babies are very young, they focus on the eyes of people around them, but when they start learning to talk (around 4-6 months), babies focus more on the mouths of speakers. Then, once they are talking, their focus returns to the eyes.

RSD in the News

Recovery School District Has Become Entrenched in New Orleans Education Landscape
The Times-Picayune – January 19, 2012
All eight RSD schools eligible to return to the Orleans Parish School Board this year chose to remain under RSD supervision. Some schools expressed continued distrust of OPSB, but most cited confusion over key issues, such as how it might affect their funding. Until a clear plan for return exists, the question of who will ultimately govern New Orleans schools will remain unresolved.

Charter School Takeover Decisions Announced by State Education Officials
The Times-Picayune – January 23, 2012
The RSD announced which charter operators will take over four of its failing schools previously scheduled for transformation. In its press release, the RSD says three of the four charter operators have successfully run public schools in New Orleans. The fourth is an expansion of a successful model that has turned around 17 failing public schools in Los Angeles and New York City.

RSD Announces High School Plan to Give Students More Options
Recovery School District – January 23, 2012
In order to strengthen its high schools, the RSD is working to give its students more opportunities to succeed. The RSD plans to offer a variety of career and technical programs for students seeking industry certifications; additional accelerated programs for students who are behind academically; and new placement options for struggling students.

Jefferson Parish Superintendent Taps RSD Executive for Top Financial Job
The Times-Picayune – January 27, 2012
Robert Fulton, the financial chief of the Recovery School District, is up for consideration as the chief financial officer for Jefferson Parish public schools.

In Other News

Steve Perry, Crusader Against ‘Raggedy Schools,’ Believes Children Deserve a Fight: Jarvis DeBerry
The Times-Picayune – January 17, 2012
Jarvis DeBerry interviews Steve Perry, the leader of a successful charter school in Connecticut. Perry, an African American, sees education reform as a civil rights issue, and he’s angry that organizations like the NAACP and teachers unions defend a status quo that keeps black children oppressed.

Three New Orleans Charter School Groups Awarded $2.8 in Federal Grants
The Times-Picayune – January 18, 2012
Three New Orleans charter school operators, Friends of King, Future is Now and Rite of Passage, won Investing in Innovation (i3) grants totaling almost $2.8 million to help take over or establish new schools next fall. The i3 grants are designed to help charter groups with the expensive task of adding a new campus and are awarded jointly by the nonprofit New Schools for New Orleans and the Recovery School District.

New Orleans School Board Leadership Debate Turns Divisive
The Times-Picayune – January 24, 2012
Open discord erupted at a recent meeting of the Orleans Parish School Board. The selection of a new president and vice president and the debate over new charter applications led to accusations of racism, a deadlocked vote, and a walkout by one member in protest.

Announcements

Teachers May Apply for Service Grants
The Times-Picayune – January 28, 2012
The Brown Foundation is offering free workshops on how to apply for service learning grants. Service learning grants are given to teachers for projects where students use skills they learn in their classroom to provide service in the community. The grants are noncompetitive, and more than one teacher from a school may apply. View the workshop schedule.

• Measuring Teacher Effectiveness
• New Superintendents Chosen for Department of Education and RSD
• Louisiana Education Stories
• National News
• Announcements

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain
New York Times – January 6, 2012
A new study of the value-added method of teacher evaluation shows that teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores have a lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics. The study tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years and found that students with high value-added teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, more likely to enroll in college, and more likely to earn more money as adults.

Popular Frameworks Found to Identify Effective Teachers
Education Week – January 6, 2012
The latest Gates Foundation study looks at classroom observations as a method of teacher evaluation. Multiple observers trained on one of five teaching frameworks evaluated over 7,500 classroom lessons. All five teaching frameworks were shown to be effective, bearing a positive relationship to student achievement. The study concludes that classroom observations can be effective if observers are carefully trained to ensure consistent application over multiple classes. The study also notes that teacher observation alone is less reliable than a combination of observation, student feedback and value-added measures of student test score growth.

New Superintendents Chosen for Department of Education and RSD

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education selected John White as the new State Superintendent for Education. White has named Patrick Dobard as Interim Superintendent of the Recovery School District, pending BESE approval. For more information on, and reaction to, these appointments, read the articles below.

State Education Board Names Superintendent of Education
WAFB – January 11, 2012

Deputy Superintendent Patrick Dobard to Head Recovery School District
The Times-Picayune – January 11, 2012

New Education Leaders are Champions of Independent Charter Schools and Test-based Accountability
The Times-Picayune – January 12, 2012

Louisiana Education Stories

School Voucher Program Gets Fresh Look in Louisiana
The Times-Picayune – January 15, 2012
Governor Jindal is expected to push for an expansion of Louisiana’s voucher program. Vouchers have seen a resurgence in national support in the past year. In New Orleans, early data suggests that a number of schools participating in the voucher program are struggling with student achievement.

Education Week Survey Gives Louisiana Schools a ‘C’
The Times-Picayune – January 12, 2012
Education Week released the results of its annual Quality Counts survey, giving Louisiana an overall grade of 77.2, or a C. That is slightly higher than the national average of 76.5 and puts the state at No. 23 nationwide. Louisiana gets an A in the category of Standards, Assessments and Accountability, but in the category of K-12 Achievement, which is based primarily on National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, Louisiana scored an F.

National News

Report Finds Child Poverty Rising in the States
Education Week – December 30, 2011
The nation’s child poverty rate has increased each of the last four years and is likely to continue to climb in the near term according to a report from the Brookings Institution. The report tracks the economic well-being of children during the current recession using three state-by-state indicators: children with an unemployed parent, individuals receiving nutrition assistance benefits, and child poverty. Louisiana ranks sixth highest in child poverty with a rate over 27%, compared to the national average of 22%.

2011-12 Federal Budget: Department of Education Overview
Education Commission of the States – January 2012
Curious to know how federal budget cuts will affect education? This easy-to-read budget summary outlines which education programs got more funding (Title I, IDEA), which programs will stay the same (Striving Readers) and which programs were cut significantly or completely (Race to the Top, Foreign Language Assistance, Teaching American History).

Teach For America Teachers Moving into Policy Positions
Minnesota Post – January 13, 2012
John White, Louisiana’s new State Superintendent of Education, is just one of many Teach For America alums who are finding their way into high level, public policy positions in education. Tennessee’s new state commissioner of education is a TFA alum. So is the chancellor of Washington, D.C. schools. TFAers are school superintendents in NYC, Massachusetts, Arizona and elsewhere. Some 600 are school principals, and, of course, Louisiana’s own Kira Orange Jones was just elected to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Costs of Online Learning
Education Gadfly – January 12, 2012
A new study compares the cost of operating a traditional school to the cost of operating a virtual school. Overall, virtual schools and blended schools (a combination of traditional and virtual) are less expensive to run, especially in areas like labor and school operations. So now the question is, are they more effective?

No Child Left Behind Turns 10 – Perspectives on the Law
Education Week – January 5, 2012
In recognition of the 10th anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Week asked seventeen leaders in the K-12 community to write brief essays that consider the law’s impact.

Announcements

Special Event to Launch National School Choice Week 2012
You are invited to the kickoff of National School Choice Week on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at the UNO Lakefront Arena from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Entertainment will be provided by The Temptations and Ellis Marsalis. This event is free and open to the public.

National School Choice Week is a grassroots movement of professional associations, advocacy groups, parents, students and teachers calling for an effective education system that has the flexibility to allow parents to choose the learning environment that is best suited for their child.

LAPCS Launches Innovative Online Tool to Track Student and School Performance
The Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools has launched Charter Discovery, an online tool that provides in-depth analysis and demographic information on Louisiana’s charter schools. The website allows you to access data on individual schools, track student performance by gender and ethnicity and compare multiple schools at one time.

Since May 2011, John White has served as the Superintendent of Louisiana’s Recovery School District. White began his career in education as an English teacher in a high-poverty school in New Jersey. He later became the Executive Director of Teach For America-Chicago, where he worked for three years before taking a job with the New York City school system. In New York, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Portfolio Division, leading efforts to turn around failing schools and develop new ones, and later he served as NYC’s Deputy Chancellor, overseeing talent, labor and innovation.

John White has named Patrick Dobard as the new Superintendent of the Recovery School District. Dobard is a local New Orleanian and a career educator who taught for eleven years in Louisiana schools. In 2001, Dobard joined the Louisiana Department of Education, and over the next ten years he served in several key positions before moving to the Recovery School District. As the RSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Community and Policy, Dobard led the RSD’s 100-day strategy sessions that resulted in the comprehensive “What Will It Take” strategic plan for the RSD.

For more information, read the Louisiana Department of Education’s press release.