Reports from New Orleans: Opportunity Youth and High School Reform

This post was written by Nancy Martin, facilitator of YTFG’s Multiple Pathways to Graduation Work Group and consultant to youth-serving organizations. For more information on public education in New Orleans, see the Cowen Institute's recent report The State of Public Education in New Orleans: 2013 Report.

In a post-Hurricane Katrina era, the city of New Orleans benefits from a number of networks focused on improving systems that serve children and youth, including a coalition of cross-system stakeholders aiming to develop education and workforce pathways for opportunity youth as part of an Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund grant; a group of executive directors of community-based organizations serving the opportunity youth population; a network of system and CBO leaders developing a Ready by 21 Youth Master Plan for the city; and a school reform community interested in creating new viable pathways to graduation in new settings. YTFG’s Multiple Pathways Work Group (MPG) met with a group of local leaders to learn about high school and youth development reform efforts in New Orleans and how their individual efforts seek to improve learning opportunities for youth. Discussants included Jen Roberts (Vice President for Education, Baptist Community Ministries in New Orleans), Adam Hawf (Deputy Superintendent, Portfolio, Louisiana Department of Education), Josh McCarty (Director of Advocacy and Communications, New Schools for New Orleans), John Ayers (Executive Director, Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, Tulane University), Amy Barad (Manager of Special Projects and Operations, Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, Tulane University), and Eric Jensen (Interim Executive Director, Partnership for Youth Development).

New Orleans has 90 public schools, 31 of them high schools. The city is "over-high schooled," and these schools compete for students. The nine schools that were part of the old school district are relatively large, many with selective admission. There are 17 charter high schools, four of which are overseen by the Orleans Parish School Board. The three Recovery School District high schools are closing this year. Only 28 percent of New Orleans students attend college directly out of high school, and there are few pathways to other postsecondary options. Out-of-school youth in New Orleans are badly underserved. The programs that do exist do not target their outreach strategies well, and overall, there are not enough spots for the large population of opportunity youth.

New Orleans has identified three areas of improvement for their public high school portfolio in New Orleans: 1) the schools are not of consistently high quality, 2) it is not diverse enough, and 3) there are more high schools than are needed for the population. So while the city has more high schools than it needs, it does not have all of the high-quality high school programming needed. This presents a dilemma. In the end, the state is deciding to close schools that are poorly performing, and this keeps the decisions out of local politics. For the most part, the state is working with existing schools to get them to broaden their focus. The state has moved to a mix of attainment and growth for assessing schools, so the accountability system allows for schools working with different types of students. With a new centralized enrollment system for the city, all schools must now serve all students.

Census data from 2010 documented about 14,000 opportunity youth in the city. In 2012, that number had more than doubled to 30,000. New Orleans has a very high number of out-of-school and out-of-work youth. The Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives at Tulane University is creating a much-needed data center that will make it clearer how many opportunity youth there are in New Orleans. The current dropout rate approaches the national average, with 78 percent of ninth graders graduating on time. The Cowen Center, through the "Freshmen on Track" program, is using data to identify those students who need supports to remain on track or get back on track to high school graduation.

The Opportunity Youth Collaborative is comprised of over 21 organizations, including multiple funders. The Collaborative is focused on high school reform; alternative, reentry, and completion options for high school; and employment training. Juvenile justice reform is a large part of high school reform efforts in New Orleans. There are 500 to 600 students who revolve in and out of secure custody in New Orleans, and 150 to 200 students are expelled annually. The former youth detention center has been re-opened as the Youth Study Center.