Douglas Harris of the Education Research Alliance at Tulane University responds here to critics of the 2015 study of New Orleans in which he was the lead researcher. Its findings were the same as his 2018 study.
He summarizes and links to the divergent views about the New Orleans’ adoption of market-driven reforms.
The school system before Katrina was corrupt and dysfunctional. After the hurricane in 2005, the state stepped in to turn most schools into privately managed charters.
He writes:
“In a study I conducted with Matthew Larsen, we found that the city’s test scores rose dramatically because of the post-Katrina reforms. Even the most pessimistic estimates suggest that the reforms significantly increased scores (and probably high school graduation rates and college entry) and more than alternative policies and programs would have. These achievement gains also occurred across the board. In this respect, low-income students were not hurt. They benefited academically.
“That being said, some of the rhetoric of reform supporters has gone overboard. There are some real issues and questions, just not the ones that these critics have set their sights on.
“For example, though disadvantaged students benefited, they seem to have benefited less than other groups. Early on, as this entirely new type of system was being put in place, there were real horror stories about how special education students and others were suspended and expelled at high rates. Under pressure from community groups, state and local leaders took several steps to address the problem, yet it remains unclear whether the problems are solved.
“Critics are concerned that schools under the reforms are too focused on test scores. This is a national concern as well, but the intensity of test-based accountability in New Orleans is even stronger and may reduce focus on other important educational goals like creativity and local cultural knowledge. In the coming years, we’ll get a better sense of the real results by looking at college and beyond.
“One potential weakness of a system of autonomous schools like the New Orleans model is that disadvantaged students can more easily fall between the cracks. With neighborhood attendance zones, a specific school is responsible for each student. With school choice, tens of thousands of students are in the hands of one or two district staff people. And there are signs that high school dropouts are being under-reported.
“Finally, whatever lessons we might draw from New Orleans may be exclusive to New Orleans. Our student outcomes had nowhere to go but up. New Orleans also saw a massive influx of federal and philanthropic funding and skilled people from across the country that other cities are unlikely to experience. Other districts should look to New Orleans, but tread carefully.“
If only the professional Reformers heeded Harris’ words of caution. You can be sure they will use his New Orleans study to tout the advantages of privatization.
For example, David Leonhardt did not write two columns in the New York Times to report the findings and cautions that Harris here reports, but to tout the wonders of charters.
Now that Harris has won $10 million from the DeVos’ Department of Education to establish a National Center for Research on School Choice, perhaps he can help shine a light on how School Choice has worked in Detroit and Milwaukee. Perhaps he can persuade the professional Reformers that the neediest kids are the ones least likely to benefit and most likely, as he put it, to “fall between the cracks.” Then, they might drop their false narrative about “saving poor kids from failing schools.” But that may be too much to hope for.
““In a study I conducted with Matthew Larsen, we found that the city’s test scores rose dramatically because of the post-Katrina reforms.”
Or did they rise because the poorest kids (i.e., the lowest scorers) never returned?
And that’s setting aside the issue of who the hell cares about test scores….
At least five thousand of the poorest residents from New Orleans never returned to the city. From targeted gentrification many neighborhoods, particularly those with higher elevation, have become majority white with upper middle class families replacing black families. Comparing the pre-Katrina population to the city to today is a false equivalency. We do know that the schools are more segregated today as charters often work in tandem with developers to ensure racial separation.
DEVELOPERS … what an oxymoron.
“Now that Harris has won $10 million from the DeVos’ Department of Education to establish a National Center for Research on School Choice”
Great. It’s not enough that the entire federal government and half of state governments completely ignore public schools now I also have to pay for a research center that will completely ignore public schools.
Can 85% of US students possibly get a single person in government who is interested in them and their schools?
This doesn’t seem like an outrageous demand- that one or two of the tens of thousands of people and programs we’re all paying for provide SOME returned value to the public schools that 85% of families use.
I mean, I get it. Public schools are unfashionable in DC and elite circles, but this is ridiculous. This will get worse. Now that ed reformers have had success silencing teachers unions we are NEVER going to see any effort expended on public school students.
Don’t the Walton family already fund a research center that promotes charter schools and private school vouchers?
Why do we need another one?
I have a crazy idea. What if we hired some people who are interested in serving the 85% of US families who attend the unfashionable public school sector?
I am tired of public schools and public school students being used as a research control for ed reformers to conduct experiments to promote their preferred privatized systems. . I want an actual advocate who seeks to improve public schools, not replace them. One. 85% of families deserve at least one.
Tulane’s $10 Million School Choice Research Center is federally funded. That’s very different from Walton funding CREDO at Stanford.
Research centers promoting charters are abundant and they manage to use bizarre statistics to make their case, like days of learning gained or lost in comparisons of tests scores. That is one of the most meaningless and useful stats for propaganda.
The federal Department of Educatuon supports about 8-10 research centers. This is a big deal to win that kind of money.
$10 million! A very handsome payout to Tulane for research DeVos and others can use for propaganda. Afterthoughts and cautions can’t undo the damage. Many professors and educators are at work to stop the looting of American schools and society by the private sector. Antonio Gramsci called this “the desertion of the intelligentsia,” a key moment in opposition. But, some don’t desert. The price for elites to stop desertion at any level is sometimes called “loyalty rent” by economists.
“One potential weakness of a system of autonomous schools like the New Orleans model is that disadvantaged students can more easily fall between the cracks.
See also Mercedes Schneider’s blog on this exact “falling through the cracks” issue, today’s post.
Sounds like the NewOekrans miracle is working out for the haves, not for have nots
An interesting statistical reversal: NCLB was instated to theoretically ‘help’ the lowest-achieving 20%. Now we’ve moved on to a place where the lowest-achieving 20% are the easiest to identify, push out and lose sight of…
Why should we believe a word that Harris says? First he writes a report declaring market-driven reforms a sterling success; then he apologizes for leaving out the unflattering facts. Then he collects his $10 million dollars hush money from the feds. “Publish and retract” is spin, not research.
Just a note: Kids did not “slip though the cracks”; they were pushed through the cracks. This is the new line of the free-market apologists: charters are a good idea implemented badly. The fact is they are a bad idea implemented exactly as planned. And there was no influx of “talented” teachers post-Katrina. I worked with the new teachers and interviewed their students and the lack of teacher training was obvious. One teacher told me she did not know what dyslexia was. Our students did not deserve to be treated as “community service” in a law school application.
Lance,
Your final sentence should be in the offices, on the walls, of every ed reform grifter in the country.
Geez- it’s summer. How many sources did we expect Leonhardt to seek out? He went to the 2nd most expensive school in NYC. That carries with it social obligations, beach time, etc. Maybe DeVos even invited him for a float on one of her yachts. But, a fair bone to pick with him- Ohioans and others in states, relegated to vacations watching T.V.- subjecting us to wave after wave of tax-funded K-12.com ads….really
If Leonard had wanted to write about charters in the 7th largest state, I’m sure his connections would have led to Fordham Institute for some sound bites. But, cheerleading for N.O.L.A.’s charters contained the amount of effort required. (And, it eliminated the need to repackage the buckeye state’s $1 bil. bilking.)