On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, accelerating the collapse of an already disintegrating city public school system. Prior to the storm, almost two-thirds of New Orleans public school students attended failing schools, half dropped out, and fewer than one in five enrolled in college. The school system suffered severe financial mismanagement, corruption, and crumbling school infrastructures.
Yet in the midst of a national tragedy came an unprecedented opportunity for education reform. Louisiana transferred 80% of the city’s public schools to the state-run Recovery School District (RSD), which, over the next decade, converted them all into charter schools. The elected Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) turned most of its 17 remaining schools into charters as well. In 2018, the state “reunified” the RSD schools with the local school board. By 2020, the OPSB had converted its last two schools to charters, making New Orleans the first large U.S. school district composed entirely of charter schools.
This sweeping education reform led to remarkable academic gains. Over the last 20 years, student outcomes have grown substantially. Despite harder assessments, students have jumped ten percentage points in reading and math at fourth and eighth grade, and graduation and college enrollments have rocketed by more than twenty percentage points. In 2024, not a single New Orleans school was rated as “failing” by the state accountability system.
The New Orleans model will not translate perfectly to all American districts, given the unique circumstances of post-Katrina recovery. Nonetheless, elements of its approach provide a compelling blueprint for large bureaucratic districts. These include:
The reinvention of New Orleans’ public schools represents both stunning success and critical lessons. If every major American public school system could achieve similar improvements, the effect on children across the nation would be profound.
