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Dear John,
It is week 286 of our new reality and we are thinking about the power of leadership, bold ideas and second acts.

As explored in our first top task below, this is a time for reflection on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago, and the two decades of education policy change that followed.

One thing that is clear: to understand education reform in New Orleans, you must understand the local and state leadership that set the path forward for something truly different to emerge. Perhaps New Orleans Acting Superintendent Ora Watson put it best in an interview with PBS ([link removed]) on November 1, 2005: “I think the sky is the limit. We have to do some real out-of-the-box thinking.”

“Over the years that followed, New Orleans became the country’s only virtually all-charter school system,” writes ([link removed]) Beth Hawkins in The 74. “School leaders took up the best innovations and joined forces to hammer out solutions to the thorniest issues.” While charter schools were by no means the only significant reform in these early years, the fact that the district was the first in the country to make becoming all charter central to its theory of change placed it at the epicenter of a debate about the future of education reform.

In their 2013 study, Stanford’s CREDO project ([link removed]) found that Louisiana charter schools–driven by the chartering of New Orleans—made the fourth largest gains in reading scores of any charter sector in the country. Indeed, across a number of indicators and despite the tragedy, these years after Katrina were a time of significant educational progress in New Orleans. Here is how Beth Hawkins describes it ([link removed]) : “Between 2005 and 2015, math and reading proficiency increased by 11 to 16 percentage points, depending on the subject and method of analysis, boosting the city’s schools from 67th in the state to 40th. High school graduation rates rose by 3 to 9 percentage points, and college-going and graduation rates rose by 8 to 15 and 3 to 5 points, respectively. Much of that progress is credited to the
performance contracts to which the charter schools are held.” At the same time, while closing low performing schools drove much of those academic gains, “closing a school — even one that has left successive generations ill-equipped to break out of poverty — is supremely unpopular. Nowhere is this more true than in Orleans Parish, where school communities are closely tied to the city’s history, their legacies celebrated at every opportunity by alumni networks.”

While the academic successes of these initial years led some to assert ([link removed]) that growing charter schools was the only reform goal that mattered and education leaders must “rid yourself of the notion that your current opinions on curriculum, teacher evaluation, technology, or anything else will be the foundation for dramatic gains in student achievement,” in a follow up study ([link removed]) by CREDO in 2023, the remarkable gains charters made in the first decade of recovery had stalled out in the second decade (as seen in the red circle below). While chartering New Orleans was a key foundational reform–a beachhead that would continue to play an important role going forward–the results made it clear that more would have to be done exactly in these areas of curriculum, instruction, support and empowerment
to accomplish the goal of nation-leading student achievement.
That’s where the second wave of reform comes in.

Here is how The 74’s Kevin Mahnken puts it ([link removed]) : “With the exception of an uptick in fourth-grade math scores, virtually every state posted disappointing results compared with 2022, when NAEP was last administered. Only two, Alabama and Louisiana, could boast of achievement in either math or English that exceeded what students enjoyed in 2019. Amid the dispiriting national data, Louisiana’s sizable gains in elementary reading were a particular bright spot. After trailing the national average in every prior iteration of the test, local policymakers were eager to celebrate the first time their state managed to pull ahead — the result of both sagging performance elsewhere and real gains at home.” But this truly
is a case where a picture is worth a thousand words:
How did Louisiana once more take up the mantle of leadership and beat the odds on student achievement?

By adopting the best instructional ideas from around the country, steering clear of educational fads that distract from learning, and putting more information and control in the hands of parents and teachers.

In his interview ([link removed]) with The 74, State Superintendent Cade Brumley credited Mississippi for pointing the way forward for Louisiana on the science of reading: “they definitely stepped out front, specifically on a number of reforms relating to literacy. We had the benefit of seeing that, so our legislative package included items that were in Mississippi’s years before. We probably were a little more assertive, but we absolutely looked at the legislation and policies adopted in Mississippi.” He also borrowed from the Lone Star state: “we partnered with the Dana Center at the University of Texas to build a foundational math training; then we required that all math teachers in grades 4-8 undergo that training.”

Brumley also credits a laser focus on achievement: “I’d say that in certain ways, schools have moved away from the original purpose of educating students in academic content so they can be successful. Many schools and systems and educators across the country have chased shiny things, and sometimes even ideologies, that aren’t necessarily relevant to simply teaching kids to read and do math.”

Finally, Brumley puts a spotlight on an effort to put teachers and parents back in charge and give students the support they need to thrive: “We launched an initiative called Let Teachers Teach, which was meant to remove some of the onerous bureaucracy on teachers and teacher trainings … We also passed a law offering high-dosage tutoring for students between the kindergarten and grade-five levels. Every student in those grades who is not proficient in reading or math has to receive high-dosage tutoring throughout the week to improve those outcomes … you either believe in education freedom, or you don’t. I believe in educational freedom. So I’m going to do everything within my power to make sure we have that portfolio available for families and we do our part to make each of those options as strong as it possibly can be.”

It's a “big tent” approach to education reform that builds upon the successes of chartering while also embracing proven instructional reforms, targeted interventions, empowered teachers and parental freedom. And that is a reform model that can be successful anywhere, in red states and in blue states alike.

Last time ([link removed]) in the New Reality Roundup, we looked at the state spending and spoke with Kerry McDonald about her new book on parent-driven microschools.

This week, we’ll showcase some of the reporting and reflections on 20 years of education reform in New Orleans. We’ll also look at the state of reading in America.

With our annual summit happening next week, the New Reality Roundup will return on October 6.

Best,

Marc Porter Magee, PhD
50CAN Founder and CEO

@marcportermagee ([link removed])

Take stock of lessons from New Orleans, 20 years after Katrina
This week marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that devastated New Orleans with far reaching consequences that are still with us today. It is also the 20th anniversary of the education reform effort that was launched in the wake of that disaster.

Here’s a roundup of some of the pieces we have been reading over the past week:

In Brookings, researchers Jamie Carroll and Douglas Harris studied ([link removed]) how New Orleans educational changes affected student learning outcomes and the teacher workforce: “In New Orleans, over the first decade after Hurricane Katrina, we find that these reforms led to large gains in a wide range of student outcomes. These improvements were due to the reforms themselves, especially the ongoing process of taking over and replacing low-performing schools, and not due to outside factors such as the changing population. Over the second decade after Hurricane Katrina, those gains have mainly been sustained. There has been some improvement in equity and no negative effects on crime or student mobility. However, there are fewer experienced, certified, and Black teachers and less of a focus on the arts than before the 2005 storm.”

Tulane researchers emphasized ([link removed]) that graduation and college enrollment rates also improved. “This is one of the largest and most sustained improvements in urban education that we’ve seen,” Tulane’s Douglas Harris wrote ([link removed]) , in a separate analysis.

FutureEd provided ([link removed]) an expansive history of the New Orleans school reforms, highlighting both initial strengths and emerging challenges: “Improvement in student outcomes slowed in the second decade since Katrina and the city’s students lag statewide averages. Recently released Louisiana data found that 24 percent of New Orleans students in grades three through eight scored ‘mastery or higher’ in math, compared to 33 percent statewide, and 37 percent reached that level in language arts, versus 43 percent statewide. Still, New Orleans’ high school graduation rate rose from 73 percent in 2013-14 to 79 percent in 2022-23, and college enrollment rose from 55 percent to 65 percent.”

A new podcast series ([link removed]) from Ravi Gupta, in partnership with The 74, entitled Where the Schools Went features community and education leaders reflecting on what the changes felt like as they were happening, including a contentious fight over Carver High School.

Finally, in Alexander Russo’s The Grade, veteran reporter Marta Jewson reflects ([link removed]) on what it was like to be a reporter covering the education system as these changes were being made: “Even now, national outlets often fail to realize that as test scores have improved (and they have) the state’s rating system has changed nearly every year — including years of rating schools on a curve. This reporting requires a lot of context … Reporters are often the centralizing force in covering agencies — and in New Orleans we must work even harder. I hope we’ve risen to the challenge.”
* The task this week is to read through the reflections that mark this anniversary and to explore how we can apply lessons learned to the next wave of reform work.

Explore the State of Reading in America
What’s the state of reading in America? For both children and adults, the picture isn’t a rosy one. In a new must-read piece, Greg Toppo shares ([link removed]) some concerning numbers: “Over the course of two generations, from 1984 to 2023, the proportion of 13-year-olds who said they ‘never or hardly ever’ read for fun on their own time has nearly quadrupled, from just 8% to 31%. During that time, the percentage of middle-schoolers who read for fun ‘almost every day’ has fallen by double digits … In 1984, 35% of middle school kids read for fun almost every day. By 2023, it was just 14%.”

Meanwhile, across all age groups, Toppo reports that “a new study from the University of Florida and University College London found that daily reading for pleasure has dropped more than 40%.” These declines are having effects throughout the education system, with Toppo covering stories of teachers swapping out challenging historical memoirs for easy-reading contemporary biographies and university professors shifting their reading expectations, sometimes dramatically. “I got to a point where I was cutting to the bone so much that there wasn’t even enough to discuss in some class sessions,” a professor told Toppo.

The reasons for the decline? The impact of virtual schooling during the pandemic and the decreasing role of full novels in K-12 reading classes may be creating headwinds, but most fingers point toward the rise of the smart phone and the crowding out of reading time for scrolling social media.

Reading may be on the ropes but it's worth fighting for. “Reading helps kids on so many levels. It makes kids better readers, better thinkers, and it stimulates brain development to actually make them better learners. The 74’s reporting should be a call to action for us to get more kids reading more books in every grade,” 50CAN VP of Policy Liz Cohen said.
* The task this week is to read the new 74 Million report and explore ways to get reading back on track in your community and your state.


50CAN’s Derrell Bradford sat with Ian Rowe and Nique Fajors for The Invisible Men podcast, where the trio looked ([link removed]) into the federal tax credit and the implications for states, with as many as 3 million students poised to enroll.
[link removed]
GeorgiaCAN’s Missy Purcell and Steven Quinn published ([link removed]) a new resource, the Georgia Special Education Family Guide. The guide provides everything a parent needs to know, from information about IEPs and special education enrollment to ways that families can advocate for their children.

Additionally, another charter that GeorgiaCAN fought for–the Academy for Innovation in Medicine–was approved by the State Charter Commission last week. The school aims to combine rigorous academics with strong career pathways into medical fields.

HawaiiKidsCAN’s David Miyashiro received ([link removed]) the front-page treatment from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, where he was one of three featured writers for the paper’s Labor Day series on workforce insights. David wrote on the future of work on the islands and how the education system would need to shift to better prepare students.

Kristin Blagg at Urban Institute estimates ([link removed]) that participants in the new federal tax-credit scholarship could reach between 2.7 and 3.6 million enrollees at a cost of $2.7 to $6.1 billion federal dollars annually.

On September 15, the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings will host ([link removed]) a virtual discussion with legal and education scholars on the status of lawsuits challenging executive actions on K-12 issues.

Keah Sharma at New America examines ([link removed]) the rise of AI-enabled edtech surveillance in public schools by spotlighting a new lawsuit in Texas that’s pushing for greater transparency.

The Urban Institute, along with ApprenticeshipNC and Apprenticeship Carolina, convened ([link removed]) both employers and educators to share results from a new apprentice project for tech occupations.


Students and teachers at the La Luz ([link removed]) microschool in Denver, Colorado start the school year off with something that feels more akin to summer camp. “Our first studio, Outdoor Adventure and Relationships (OARS), has students climbing, hiking, and building community right out of the gate. And our 6th graders are leaving for the Great Sand Dunes in a few hours,” founder Kyle Gamba tells us. The school was the subject of an Education Week profile ([link removed]) last year.

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