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New Orleans Enters The Charter School Era

Ninth graders at George Washington Carver Collegiate Academy learn to shake hands and greet each other during the first day of school in New Orleans.
David Gilkey
/
NPR
Ninth graders at George Washington Carver Collegiate Academy learn to shake hands and greet each other during the first day of school in New Orleans.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans and gutted most of its public schools. Even before the storm, the district was one of the most troubled in the nation.

Today, the New Orleans school system is unlike any other anywhere in the U.S. More than 9 in 10 students this fall are attending charter schools run by dozens of private, nonprofit organizations. Families choose the schools their children will attend, and the neighborhood school is a thing of the past.

The is beginning a yearlong examination of these dramatic changes: what they'll mean for New Orleans and the families, children and teachers there. Claudio Sanchez kicks off the series.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Former elementary and middle school teacher Claudio Sanchez is the education correspondent for NPR. He focuses on the "three p's" of education reform: politics, policy and pedagogy. Sanchez's reports air regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Sanchez joined NPR in 1989, after serving for a year as executive producer for the El Paso, Texas, based Latin American °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Service, a daily national radio news service covering Latin America and the U.S.- Mexico border.