New Orleans
What do Jeb Bush and Canadian home schoolers have in common? They’re both featured in this week’s school choice news roundup.
But before we get to those stories, let’s first head to the Big Easy where a conference examining New Orleans education reforms post-Hurricane Katrina is underway. A lot has changed in the city since the storm hit in 2005, and now New Orleans education looks very different from anywhere else in the country. I’m attending the conference and sharing select insights on Twitter at @ChartersNChoice. Here’s an interesting snippet from one of this morning’s sessions:
Nash Crews: in 2004 only one charter in New Orleans. Plan was to create ten but hit resistance. #nolaed
— Sean Gill (@seanrobertgill) June 19, 2015
Things are so fluid in #nolaed it’s hard for researchers to keep up, says Doug Harris @Era_NOLA conference. #charterschools
— Arianna Prothero (@AriannaProthero) June 19, 2015
With the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this August, New Orleans’ schools will also be featured in the upcoming national charter schools conference hosted annually by the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools. That conference kicks off Monday here.
Don’t cha know... More Canadian parents are choosing to home school, but less for religious reasons. Is the U.S. home schooling sector seeing a similar trend?
More Canadian parents are choosing to home-school their children: report http://t.co/7mkquOURpX via @HPCAParents
— HuffPost Canada (@HuffPostCanada) June 17, 2015
The edu platform... Jeb Bush has been a big supporter of school choice, helping launch Florida’s first charter school and championing vouchers and other private school choice programs while he was governor. Here’s how his education record will change the 2016 Republican presidential primary, according to State ImpactFlorida’s John O’Conner:
Report roundup...
10 years after Hurricane Katrina, student achievement has improved in New Orleans schools, but the system is still very much in flux, according to a report out this week from the Cowen Institute at Tulane University. You can read more of The State of Public Education in New Orleans report here. Even with philanthropic dollars, charter schools still get less money than district schools according to a study from the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas.
File under wonky but important... The Fordham Institute’s second annual edu policy wonk-a-thon is focusing on a relatively new voucher-like program called education savings accounts. Fordham has been publishing essays on ESAs all week, which you can check out here.
Finally, from the innovation files... how to help students in juvenile detention centers stay in school and graduate? Build a school for them:
Ballard backs charter school for Marion County juvenile center: The goal of the Francis Marion Academy would b... http://t.co/goHRx00Rzb
— Indy Breaking News (@indystarbreak) June 1, 2014
Have a story recommendation for next week’s school choice news roundup? Leave it in the comments section below or tweet it to @ChartersNChoice.