Teaching Profession Report Roundup

Teacher Quality

By Stephen Sawchuk — September 08, 2015 1 min read
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After the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 7,000 New Orleans teachers lost their jobs, paving the way for a massive change in the city’s teaching force.

Now, a study by Nathan Barrett and Douglas N. Harris of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, paints a picture of how different the city’s teachers look today from a decade ago.

Among the key trends:

• The city’s teaching force is now 49 percent black, compared with 71 percent in 2005.

• About 60 percent of teachers in 2005 were trained in New Orleans colleges; in 2014, fewer than 40 percent were.

• The percentage of teachers with five or fewer years of experience has increased from 33 percent to 54 percent since 2003.

• The percentage of certified teachers fell from 79 percent to 56 percent.

A version of this article appeared in the September 09, 2015 edition of Education Week as Teacher Quality

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