Turnaround: the Reinvention of New Orleans' Schools
Radius Center
106 Auditorium Cir #120, San Antonio, TX 78205
Friday, July 24, 2026
12:30 PM CDT
$6.49
Before Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, New Orleans had perhaps the worst school system in the nation. Half the students dropped out, and corruption was so bad that the FBI had agents stationed at district headquarters, investigating. The district encouraged operators to diversify their learning models, and soon they include Montessori schools, project-based learning, dual-language immersion, STEM schools, performing arts schools, a Military-Maritime Academy, and many more options. When the schools succeeded, the district invited them to expand and replicate. When they failed, it replaced them with better operators. The result: New Orleans became the fastest improving city in the nation. By 2015, test scores, graduation and dropout rates, college-going rates, and independent studies all told the same story: the city’s public schools had roughly doubled their effectiveness. On the most important metrics—graduation and college-going rates—New Orleans became the first high-poverty city to outperform its state. The progress continues to this day: New Orleans is the only high-poverty city in America whose test scores are higher than they were before Covid. All ticket sales are final and non-refundable.