Reforming New Orleans' Schools

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' public school system was regarded as one of the nation's worst -- a system plagued by corruption and low achievement. So it was no surprise that, after the floodwaters receded, city, state and federal officials, along with social entrepreneurs, all rushed in with novel plans to reform New Orleans' schools.

The progress of that experiment is the subject of Amy Waldman's "Reading, Writing, Reconstruction" in the January/February 2007 issue of The Atlantic. Waldman's article follows three sets of actors in New Orleans new educational system - a real estate developed turned charter school operator; the officials who run the schools transferred from the city to a special Recovery School District; and the principal and students of a school in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Waldman's story traces the actions taken by each set of actors since the flood and assesses their progress to date. Despite hard work and good intentions, all of three sets of players have fallen short of their expectations. The result: an educational system that continues to fail its students -- the students upon whom New Orleans' future rests.