Report lacks accurate info on current state and future of New Orleans’ public education, according to Dr. Adrienne Dixson

A recent report from Public Impact and New Schools for New Orleans reviews the 10 years of education reform following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the creation of a “portfolio model” of school governance. Claiming the reform is an “unquestioned success,” the authors argue that it should be duplicated by other cities.

Adrienne D. Dixson, an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, reviewed Ten Years in New Orleans: Public School Resurgence and the Path Ahead for the Think Twice think tank review project at the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education. Her opinion is that the report does little to accurately inform the lay public or scholars about the viability of “portfolio” districts or the current state and future of public education in New Orleans.

“The report overstates its claims of post-Katrina academic gains in New Orleans, evidence for which is scant and has significant limitations, particularly due to the repeated changes in test-score standards across the decade," Dixson writes in the piece.

Read Dixson's full review.