Tuesday, May 13, 2008

New Orleans Dumps Teachers’ Union.  Student Performance Rises.

Nick noticed this telling story. 

Good news in The Big Easy where over a year ago they broke the teachers union and basically started over with publicly financed but privately board run charter schools.  This year, testing of fourth and eighth graders have shown improvements by 12% and 4% respectively, in only a year.  They still have a long way to go, but this is real progress from a completely failed school system in a short turnaround time.  The major reason being given for this success is the quality of teachers they were able to attract.

Nick tips the ol’ hat to Megan.

In the comments of Nick’s post, Folkbum hypothesizes that the gains are due to the change in population.  I disagree with that.  While the population has changed, it is more likely that the criminal class would stick around.  Think about it.  Abandoned property.  Desperate people.  Depleted police force.  It’s ripe territory for crooks.  Furthermore, crooks tend to have fewer means to move and set up life elsewhere. 

In fact, the crime statistics are showing that New Orleans may be more violent than it was before Katrina. 

As of New Year’s Eve, the city’s murder total sat at 209, making it again a top contender for the country’s highest per-capita murder rate, a dubious title New Orleans held in 2006. A definitive per-capita rate for murders and all crimes remains elusive, because of varying estimates of the post-flood city’s still-changing population. But even by the most generous estimate, preferred by the New Orleans Police Department, the city’s murder rate is 67 murders per 100,000 people. Using another, lower population estimate cited by the city, the rate would be 71.

Compared with the nine other cities with the highest per-capita murder rates last year, New Orleans remains at or near the highest rate in 2007.

[...]

Complete fourth-quarter crime statistics won’t be made available for another month, but if trends from the first three quarters hold steady, then violent crime has increased, drastically in some categories. Indeed, the rate of reported assaults—a category that includes all nonfatal shootings—in the first three quarters of the year was on pace to equal or surpass the number of assaults in each of the two years before Hurricane Katrina, when the city’s population was far larger.

I think it’s safe to assume that crime rates would be a good indicator of the raw quality of the students who are attending the schools.  Yes, there are other factors, but generally speaking, kids who grow up in broken crime-ridden homes tend to do poorly at school. 

Yet, they are doing better than before.  Surely Nick is wrong and New Orleans’ new public school model is having no impact whatsoever on student achievement.

(7) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1908 hrs
Culture + Politics + Politics - General

  1. The major reason being given for this success is the quality of teachers they were able to attract.

    The major reason being given by whom, I’d like to know?  Why are the teachers different than the ones they had before?  Did a bunch of new ones move to town?  Old ones take up different jobs?  Are they offering more—or less—pay? 

    Folkbum hypothesizes that the gains are due to the change in population.  I disagree with that.  While the population has changed, it is more likely that the criminal class would stick around.  Think about it.

    We can think about it all we want, but we don’t really know what demographic changes are impacting the city post-Katrina and how they might be affecting the school population.

    Posted by scott on May 13, 2008 at 2042 hrs


  2. There are many reasons for the change.  To answer scott’s question, many if not most, of the teacher’s in N.O. did leave the district.  I was reading the union and school web site and they were encouraging teachers to leave because many would not have jobs to come back to.  Seniority did not matter and the principals got to chose the teachers they wanted.
    I am also sure demographics have something to do with it.  also, newer schools and equipment sure help.  It also seems like there is less bureaucracy which can also help.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 13, 2008 at 2114 hrs


  3. Many public service organizations like Teach for America have moved into the city in force in the wake of Katrina, and hearing firsthand anecdotes from some of these young teachers certainly does sound as if they represent an improvement over some of the teaching staff of the past.  Simple student discipline and expectations are part of the change.

    One problem with basing reform on this influx is its uncertain nature - will new, young, adventurous teachers continue to come into the area when the novelty of being in Post-Katrina New Orleans fades?

    Which children are even going to school at all is also important.  I do believe crime has increased here post-K by many indicators, and certainly as a percentage of the population it has increased.  I don’t think Folkbum is necessarily too far afield in his assessment. 

    There may be fewer children attending school - the kids of “crooks” etc. may not even be attending school at all.  Many schools in the area remain shuttered - including just about every school that was linked to or close to a major public housing project (which are currently being razed).  It’s possible that a significant number of lower performing students left in the diaspora of sorts post-K.

    It’s not necessarily that the poorest (or most crime-prone) alone stayed, there are certainly some instances at least, in my experience, that illustrate the opposite - some of the poorest haven’t been able to return to New Orleans after relocating while many wealthier citizens have been able to return - or never had to because they lived in less flood-prone areas.  At the very least, it’s far more complex than most simple narratives would lead people to believe.

    p.s. there are several charter schools here as well to add into the mix, including two charter high schools within a block of my house

    Posted by Brad V on May 13, 2008 at 2308 hrs


  4. I think it’s safe to assume that crime rates would be a good indicator of the raw quality of the students who are attending the schools.

    I don’t think that’s safe to assume at all.  The criminal element tends not to have eight-year-olds who go to school.

    Posted by folkbum on May 14, 2008 at 1946 hrs


  5. Really?  Take a look throughout the country.  It’s a pretty certain fact that high crime areas consistently have poorer performing student populations.  Milwaukee, Detroit, D.C., Baltimore, Oakland, etc.  Furthermore, if you look throughout the country, lower crime areas consistently have higher performing students. 

    Again, of course there are other factors at play, but the crime rate generally correlates with the performance level.

    Posted by Owen on May 14, 2008 at 2026 hrs


  6. Reasonable enough, but I think the New Orleans situation might be different enough for that maxim to not apply.  There just aren’t that many examples of cities whose population has been entirely uprooted by disaster and subsequently resettled in this uneven, patchwork way.

    Posted by scott on May 14, 2008 at 2041 hrs


  7. I just have to shake my head at the fact that you guys take this one data point amid all the uncertainty and other factors surrounding it, and hold it up as proof positive that non-union teachers bring dramatic improvements in student achievement.

    Posted by scott on May 14, 2008 at 2042 hrs


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