The nearly decade-long decentralization of New Orleans’ public schools has had mixed results and brought with it a unique set of challenges, finds a new report.
The Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University examined various markers—student achievement, charter openings and closures, the distribution of special education students across the system, enrollment, and finance and operation—in a school system that has stabilized in recent years, but is still very much in flux. While student achievement has improved, the study notes that the lack of centralization has raised the risk of students falling through the cracks and increased transportation costs.
