Post-Katrina, an unprecedented public education reform movement has emerged in Greater New Orleans, and Teach For America corps members and alumni are making history as leaders at the forefront of these efforts.
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| Site Since: 1990 |
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Often referred to as America’s most unique city, New Orleans is a world-famous tourist destination known for diverse music, architecture, and cuisine that reflects the region’s historical roots and multi-cultural heritage. At the same time, New Orleans has long been a region divided by race and class, infamous for having one of the worst public school systems in the nation and a disparaging achievement gap, which made New Orleans one of Teach For America’s charter placement sites in 1990.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, two-thirds of the city’s public schools were deemed academically unacceptable, half of public school students didn’t graduate from high school, and one out of every three school-age children attended non-public school.
The silver lining in the aftermath of our nation’s worst natural disaster is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build an educational system that provides excellent educational opportunities to all students, thereby greatly impacting the future of this important American city as well as shaping the education reform movement in our country more broadly.
Last year, Teach For America doubled its corps presence in Greater New Orleans for the 2007-08 school year by placing its largest corps to date. At the request of our school and community partners, we currently plan to continue this scale of growth in 2008.
The 2008 corps will provide a much-needed influx of leaders who will positively shape the future of Greater New Orleans by making a significant impact in the classroom as well as serving as future school, district, and community leaders at all levels of the region’s revitalization. They will join a diverse community of people in Greater New Orleans who are resolute in their conviction that closing the achievement gap is both necessary and possible as they collectively work to rebuild a stronger region.
(Click here to hear corps members reflect on life in Greater New Orleans after Katrina.)
While Greater New Orleans still faces many challenges in its recovery, signs of progress are everywhere as well as an incredible demonstration of regional pride. “New Orleans: Proud to Call it Home” signs are everywhere, and the region’s population continues to rebound in large numbers.
According to recent estimates, Greater New Orleans population is 85 percent its pre-Katrina level, with 1.2 million people currently living in the metro area. In the city of New Orleans, the population is approximately 60 percent pre-Katrina levels, with nearly 300,000 people living in Orleans Parish, numbers that are expected to continue to rise.
The people of New Orleans are known world-wide for their hospitality, and at this critical time in the region’s history, New Orleanians excitedly welcome newcomers contributing to the region’s rebuilding efforts. Given the multi-faceted nature of the region’s unprecedented recovery and the fact that so many young people are leaders in these efforts, Greater New Orleans is a particularly appealing region for corps members with long-term interests in areas such as public policy, politics, public administration, urban planning, architecture, engineering, community organization, law, justice reform, public health, environmental studies, school leadership, and business management, among others.
Hear corps members reflect on life in Greater New Orleans. Visit our corps member perspectives page for videos, photo galleries, and more.
While recovery efforts will continue for years to come, there are countless opportunities for corps members to engage in the vibrant life and hotspots of the city. Rich in culture and close to nature, Greater New Orleans features a combination of sights, sounds, and activities that entertains corps members of all interests. The region's year-round sub-tropical climates lends itself to countless opportunities to bike, run, play Frisbee or basketball, or just sit and relax near one of the city’s many bayous.
Whether they work in the Orleans Parish or one of the surrounding Parishes, almost all corps members choose to live in the City of New Orleans. New Orleans has the benefits of a large city while also having many small-town conveniences. You can get almost everywhere in the city by car in less than 20 minutes and no matter where corps members live and work, it is hard to venture anywhere in the city without running into fellow corps members, alumni, co-workers, and students.
Numerous neighborhoods are vibrant and bustling, with several neighborhoods having little physical storm damage and others having undergone massive rebuilding. Many corps members live uptown, near Tulane and Loyola universities; in Mid City, an area near City Park, with its own Mardi Gras parading society, and home of Rock ‘N Bowl; or in the Marigny, a historic and artist-friendly area downriver from the French Quarter. Each of these communities is distinct and offers various cafés, bookstores, galleries, and other hallmarks of urban living. Some corps members choose to live in quieter, more rural communities closer to Lake Pontchartrain, or in apartment complexes in nearby suburbs.
Dining is a passion in New Orleans and there are actually more restaurants open now than there were pre-Katrina. Whether it is café au lait and beignets or Cajun cuisine, there are tastes for everyone’s palate. Crescent City Brewery, a microbrewery in the French Quarter, is a favorite and known for its daily live jazz performed by local musicians.
The region’s pride is infused into the Greater New Orleans corps, which is focused on high levels of student achievement. Teach For America corps members are at the front line of the rejuvenation efforts of the Greater New Orleans public schools and believe that educating their students is the core of this effort. Corps members have access to countless resources across the city—the most valuable of which are our corps members and alumni themselves. To encourage close collaboration and support, corps members are often clustered at each school site. Over 95 percent of corps members teach in a school with at least one other corps member or alumni.
The entire corps comes together for professional development approximately four times a semester to engage in learning that will increase their proficiency as teachers. Additionally, each corps member works several times a semester within a professional learning community, a small group of other corps members teaching the same subject and/or grade and a content mentor to become experts in what they are teaching.
Greater New Orleans corps members also have Core Group Mentors: a small community of three to five first year corps members led by a second year corps member or alumnus. Corps members engage with one another both professionally, by sharing classroom experiences and learning best practices from an experienced teacher, and socially, by holding pot luck dinners and venturing out to different parts of the city together.
There is a strong alumni presence in Greater New Orleans. Our 200 alumni also serve as valuable resources through their contributions to the vast and growing education community in Greater New Orleans. The alumni in Greater New Orleans are always enthusiastic about interacting with current corps members, whether it is in a professional setting to discuss education, organize a corps/alumni talent show, or rally others for a weekly game of Ultimate Frisbee or soccer on the levee.
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