A Louisiana Education
What great news!
New Orleans public schools were in trouble long before Katrina's visit in August. But the hurricane aftermath has given the state an opportunity to turn things around educationally, and Louisiana seems eager to seize it.
Last month, the legislature voted to let the state effectively take over the New Orleans public school system. What's more, the state plans to turn a significant number of the city's underperforming schools over to universities and foundations to reopen as charters. Change was way overdue, to put it mildly. Some 90% of the city's 117 public schools were performing below the state average, and 68 of the state's 170 failing schools are located in Orleans Parish.
The predictable union response:
Not that this abysmal record stopped the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and its local affiliate, the United Teachers of New Orleans, from vehemently opposing the state action.
And a nice mention of KIPP:
Former CNN executive Walter Isaacson, a New Orleans native who serves as vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, has been instrumental in rounding up charter school sponsors. He says the Eli Broad and Gates Foundations have expressed interest, as has KIPP Academy, one of the most successful charter school operators in the country.
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A Louisiana Education
December 2, 2005; Page A10
December 2, 2005; Page A10
WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113348536028911943.html
New Orleans public schools were in trouble long before Katrina's visit in August. But the hurricane aftermath has given the state an opportunity to turn things around educationally, and Louisiana seems eager to seize it.
Last month, the legislature voted to let the state effectively take over the New Orleans public school system. What's more, the state plans to turn a significant number of the city's underperforming schools over to universities and foundations to reopen as charters. Change was way overdue, to put it mildly. Some 90% of the city's 117 public schools were performing below the state average, and 68 of the state's 170 failing schools are located in Orleans Parish.
Not that this abysmal record stopped the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and its local affiliate, the United Teachers of New Orleans, from vehemently opposing the state action. But their arguments that chartering public schools means voiding collective-bargaining agreements and teacher-tenure rules got little sympathy from Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, state lawmakers and parents understandably fed up with a school system graduating illiterates year after year...
New Orleans public schools were in trouble long before Katrina's visit in August. But the hurricane aftermath has given the state an opportunity to turn things around educationally, and Louisiana seems eager to seize it.
Last month, the legislature voted to let the state effectively take over the New Orleans public school system. What's more, the state plans to turn a significant number of the city's underperforming schools over to universities and foundations to reopen as charters. Change was way overdue, to put it mildly. Some 90% of the city's 117 public schools were performing below the state average, and 68 of the state's 170 failing schools are located in Orleans Parish.
Not that this abysmal record stopped the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and its local affiliate, the United Teachers of New Orleans, from vehemently opposing the state action. But their arguments that chartering public schools means voiding collective-bargaining agreements and teacher-tenure rules got little sympathy from Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, state lawmakers and parents understandably fed up with a school system graduating illiterates year after year...
posted by Whitney Tilson at 4:50 PM
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