N.O. is a charter school laboratory

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor 

For the second year in a row, New Orleans has the highest public charter school enrollment in the nation, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. 

The city has become a national test tube for public charter schools. Nowhere in the country has there been a charter school explosion like we have here. 

In the 2006-07 school year, New Orleans had 14,822 students enrolled in public charter schools, up 89 percent from 7,815 in 2005-06, NAFPCS’ report says. A total of 57 percent of New Orleans’ public school students were enrolled in charter schools in 2006-07, compared with 3 percent statewide. 

It will be interesting to see how, or if, these charter schools will affect student performance on standardized tests.