The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls have served to provide insight on how parents and the general public feel about the highly decentralized K-12 public education system in New Orleans. Over time, we have monitored views on a wide range of topics, including school…

The report is the Institute's annual analysis of the city's unique and ever-evolving public education system. This year's report finds that school performance scores continues to increase, while areas for improvement and progress remain. The report also assesses the impact that RSD-OPSB school unification will likely have on students and families.…

Public charter schools increasingly are part of both the national conversation about education policy and the local urban scene in America. Previous studies of public charter schools have examined their achievement effects focused on both the state and metropolitan levels, and funding disparities focused on the state levels. This report is an…

The Recovery School District (RSD) was created by Louisiana legislators in 2003 for the purpose of transforming schools with a history of failure by placing them under state control and oversight. The RSD's scope was expanded in 2005 to allow it to take over the lowest performing schools in Louisiana. This had its most profound impact on New…

In November 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested in seven innovative district-charter partnerships with "the potential capacity and commitment to accelerate student college ready rates through deep collaboration and sharing of best practices" (District-Charter Collaboration Grant Request for Proposal [RFP]). These…

In November 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested in seven innovative district-charter partnerships with "the potential capacity and commitment to accelerate student college ready rates through deep collaboration and sharing of best practices" (District-Charter Collaboration Grant Request for Proposal). These…

In November 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested in seven innovative district-charter partnerships with "the potential capacity and commitment to accelerate student college ready rates through deep collaboration and sharing of best practices" (District-Charter Collaboration Grant Request for Proposal). These…

Students need a safe and supportive school environment to maximize their academic and social-emotional learning potential. A school's discipline policies and practices directly impact school climate and student achievement. Together, discipline policies and positive school climate efforts can reinforce behavioral expectations and ensure student…

The Citywide Education Progress Report looks at how a city is doing across three goals: (1) The education system is continuously improving; (2) All students have access to a high-quality education; and (3) The education strategy is rooted in the community. Across each goal it presents indicators of what the city is doing and how it is doing. The…

In America today, families in almost every urban community have some kind of public school choice. This report focuses on "public school choice," under which families are able to choose from both an array of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Public school choice has grown rapidly in the past 20 years; new charter…

Some communities look at claims of miraculous proficiency rates or heed reports of long waiting lists for charter schools and conclude that chartering is the way to go. But if the broad, long-term policy objective is to move toward the provision of a "system of great schools" that produces an equitable distribution of excellent (or at…

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. This article uses: (1) a school fixed effects approach; and (2) a regression discontinuity…

The 2016 Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI) is the fifth release of an annual compilation of data on the condition of K-12 school choice in the geographical areas served by the nation's 100 largest school districts. The ECCI captures information on: (1) the extent of choice; (2) the characteristics of the process by which parents and…

While many charter school leaders across the country grapple with how to best provide and pay for special education, New Orleans recently became the first city in the nation to tackle special education on the fiscal, human capital, and program fronts in the context of a full-choice public education landscape. Over time, it may offer scalable…

Since 2009, the Cowen Institute has conducted an annual poll to assess public perception of the public education system in New Orleans. The survey results in this report highlight the notion that, while progress has been made in New Orleans' public education, there is still room for improvement. The majority of respondents believe that charter…