Get to Know The Education Entrepreneurship Challenge
Over the last six years, the city of New Orleans has developed an entrepreneurial ecosystem that drives new business ventures, attracts new investments, and brings new talent to the city. Nowhere is this clearer than in its school system, where school leaders and political leaders are ahead of the national curve in terms of innovation. To take advantage this local context, we are focused on providing corps members and alumni with opportunities to explore entrepreneurship.
In 2011, we partnered with local non-profit The Idea Village to develop the entrepreneurialism of our corps members and alumni. Together we piloted the Education Entrepreneurship Challenge and successfully brought 25 emerging entrepreneurs together for six months to explore issues facing students and teachers. Our corps members and alumni developed the skills to develop innovative solutions to real challenges in the field of education.
As a result of the Challenge, seven new ventures are in business development and two—Dash and Classroom Blueprint—have been incorporated as for-profit businesses. Dash created a mobile application that facilitates better communication between parents and teachers, and Classroom Blueprint helps teachers design and outfit their classrooms effectively by leveraging real-life examples and testimony from other teachers. Our successes from the Challenge show that our leaders have the potential to pioneer game-changing endeavors that drive progress inside and outside of classrooms in New Orleans and across the country.
Region Timeline
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During the desegregation era of the 1960s, New Orleans public schools face the same problems affecting many urban school districts: white and middle-class flight, a predominantly high-needs population of students, and decreasing public investment in education.
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African American students make up 58% of the population in the public school system.
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African American students make up 84% of the population in the public school system.
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At this time the New Orleans public school system is widely recognized as one of the worst performing districts in the nation. As a reform measure, the state passes legislation to create the Recovery School District (RSD), take control of underperforming schools, and transform them into successful places for children to learn.
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African American students make up 94% of New Orleans public school students and 77% live under the poverty line.
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Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) passes emergency legislation to give the RSD control of more than 100 of New Orleans’ schools, leaving the local Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) with only 17 schools.
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The spotlight is now focused on our region as a model of systematic change towards more positive outcomes for our students. Nearly 80% of students in Orleans Parish attend charter schools. The percentage of students who are meeting state standards has doubled and the high school drop out rate has been halved in the past five years. Parents also have more choice from among dozens of high-performing schools.
Overheard
