“What Schools Do Parents Want (And Why)?”: New Report Focuses on Changes in School Choices in New Orleans

January 7, 2015

Education Research Alliance for New Orleans to release first in series of studies on post-Katrina NOLA schools

Media Advi­so­ry NEW ORLEANS — On Jan. 15, the Edu­ca­tion Research Alliance for New Orleans will pub­licly release a report on how par­ents’ school choic­es have changed over the past 10 years, as the city has under­gone rebuild­ing fol­low­ing Hur­ri­cane Kat­ri­na. The report will be the first in a series of stud­ies that will ana­lyze var­i­ous edu­ca­tion top­ics — espe­cial­ly the roles of school choice, char­ter schools, account­abil­i­ty, and teach­ers — and high­light the trans­for­ma­tion of edu­ca­tion in New Orleans lead­ing up to the 10-year anniver­sary of Hur­ri­cane Kat­ri­na in August. Writ­ten by Dou­glas N. Har­ris and Matthew Larsen of the Edu­ca­tion Research Alliance for New Orleans, the pre­sen­ta­tion of the find­ings will be fol­lowed by a pan­el dis­cus­sion of par­ents led by Orleans Pub­lic Edu­ca­tion Net­work (OPEN) and com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tion New Orleans Par­ents’ Guide. ​“What Schools Do Par­ents Want (And Why)?” — an exten­sive analy­sis of parental pref­er­ences — will add vital infor­ma­tion to the nation­al dis­cus­sion about school choice. The report includes facts and fig­ures on what par­ents want most in their chil­dren’s schools, how parental choice is influ­enced by edu­ca­tion poli­cies, and oth­er lessons learned from a city that has dras­ti­cal­ly changed its pub­lic edu­ca­tion sys­tem. REPORT RELEASE EVENT DETAILS What: Release of ​“What Schools Do Par­ents Want (And Why)?” and par­ent pan­el dis­cus­sion When: Thurs­day, Jan. 15, 2015, 6 – 8 p.m. CST Where: Treme Recre­ation Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter, 900 N. Villere St., New Orleans, LA 70116 The event also will be acces­si­ble via live stream at edu​ca​tion​re​searchal​lian​ceno​la​.org. GAIN EAR­LY ACCESS TO THE REPORT: Approved media rep­re­sen­ta­tives can gain ear­ly access to embar­goed mate­ri­als on Mon­day, Jan. 12, at 10 a.m. CST. Access must be request­ed. Please con­tact Kel­ly Selong at 571−814−3433 or kselong@​reingold.​com. ARRANGE INTER­VIEWS WITH THE REPORT’S AUTHOR: Con­tact Kel­ly Selong at 571−814−3433 or kselong@​reingold.​com for inter­views or oth­er requests.