Did Katrina Improve New Orleans Schools?

An article in USA Today suggests that one positive aspect of Hurricane Katrina is that it forced the revolution of public education in New Orleans. The author argues that as the storm-devastated school system was forced to rebuild rapidly, many successful new practices were implemented quickly. Without the storm, these changes would have been resisted, if not defeated, in status quo bickering over educational reform.

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Remembering Hurricane Katrina

This collection of images shows the devastation faced by the people of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck on Aug. 29, 2005.

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Katrina - Before and After

Cars travel over a bridge crossing the Industrial Canal to the Lower Ninth Ward July 18, 2006, in New Orleans. A year earlier, two men paddle in high water. (Mario Tama, Getty Images)

Residents walk through floodwaters on Canal Street in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A lone street car waits a year later. (Bill Haber, AP)

Hurricane Katrina evacuee Kimi Seymour, takes a break along Interstate 10 as she walked along the highway with a shopping cart of possessions after Katrina. (Irwin Thompson, The Dallas Morning News / AP)

Residents inspect damage left by Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Miss. (Robert Sullivan, AFP / Getty Images)

Rhonda Braden walks through the destruction in her childhood neighborhood, Aug. 31, 2005 in Long Beach, Miss. (Rob Carr, AP)

Katrina victims carry merchandise from downtown businesses in New Orleans. (Eric Gay, AP)

A woman and her child wait with hundreds of other flood victims at the convention center in New Orleans. (Eric Gay, AP)

People walk along Interstate 10 near the Louisiana Superdome early on Aug. 31, 2005, in New Orleans and a year later traffic flows down the same road. (Melanie Burford, AP)

The destroyed Hyatt Regency hotel, left, is shown next to a statue in New Orleans and the way it appeared a year later. (Mario Tama, Getty Images)

Young Tanisha Belvin holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina survivor Nita LaGarde. (Eric Gay, AP)

The city attracted a nationally known school reformer, Superintendent Paul Vallas, and so many teachers that it has 10 applicants for every opening. Last year, the school district was able to spend $15,500 per pupil -- twice what it spent before Katrina and far above the national average. Scores have risen on both state and national tests. But for all its recent advantages, the district remains saddled with daunting problems. Nearly a third of the city's children live in poverty, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Source: 'Our view: Four Years after Katrina, New Orleans Reinvents Schools,' USA Today

Expensive changes, such as an 11-month school year, enthusiastic embrace of charter schools and school choice no longer restricted by geographic region, have led to early increases in test scores. Still, in terms of test results, the district ranks 65 out of 68 in Louisiana.

And although it's encouraging to see state assessment scores up 10 points higher last year than in the 2004-2005 school year, some residents are concerned that Vallas and the new teachers being recruited will move on long before the very long-term task of turning around New Orleans schools is completed.