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This is a past event

Charter School City: A Conversation with Douglas Harris and Patrick Dobard

Date & Time
Thursday, August 27, 2020
6:00–7:00 pm
Location
Online
Charter School City: A Conversation with Douglas Harris and Patrick Dobard

​Click [here](https://www.facebook.com/EducationResearchAllianceNOLA/videos/1333148263557877/) to watch the livestream on Facebook. ​Clear [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgQIwtc3r70) to watch the livestream on YouTube. Join Dou­glas Har­ris, pro­fes­sor at Tulane and head of the Edu­ca­tion Research Alliance for New Orleans, for a vir­tu­al dis­cus­sion of his new book, ​Charter School City: What the End of Tra­di­tion­al Pub­lic Schools in New Orleans Means for Amer­i­can Education​, in con­ver­sa­tion with Patrick Dobard, CEO of New Schools for New Orleans. Copies of ​Charter School City​are [avail­able here](https://www.octaviabooks.com/book/9780226694641) from Octavia Books, a local, inde­pen­dent book­seller. Thank you to Octavia Books for co-host­ing the event. ​About the Book: In the wake of the tragedy and destruc­tion that came with Hur­ri­cane Kat­ri­na in 2005, pub­lic schools in New Orleans elim­i­nat­ed the tra­di­tion­al pub­lic edu­ca­tion sys­tem and com­plete­ly replaced it with char­ter schools and school choice. Fif­teen years lat­er, the results have been remark­able, and the com­plex lessons learned should alter the way we think about Amer­i­can edu­ca­tion. In ​Charter School City​, Dou­glas N. Har­ris pro­vides an inside look at how and why these reform deci­sions were made and offers many sur­pris­ing find­ings from one of the most exten­sive and rig­or­ous eval­u­a­tions of a dis­trict school reform ever con­duct­ed. Through close exam­i­na­tion of the results, Har­ris finds that the reforms were a note­wor­thy suc­cess on almost every mea­sur­able stu­dent out­come. But, as Har­ris shows, this mar­ket-based reform still required some spe­cif­ic and active roles for gov­ern­ment. At a time when char­ter school debates are more based on ide­ol­o­gy than data, this book is a pow­er­ful, evi­dence-based, and in-depth look at how we can rethink the roles for gov­ern­ments, mar­kets, and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions in edu­ca­tion to ensure that America’s schools ful­fill their poten­tial for all stu­dents. As for­mer U.S. Sec­re­tary of Edu­ca­tion Arne Dun­can said: In this ground-break­ing book, Har­ris pro­vides a full and care­ful pic­ture of how the com­mu­ni­ty did it and what oth­ers can learn from it. New Orleans shows us what’s pos­si­ble, and it gives all of us rea­son for hope.” ​About Dou­glas Harris: Dou­glas N. Har­ris is pro­fes­sor and chair of the Depart­ment of Eco­nom­ics and the Schlieder Foun­da­tion Chair in Pub­lic Edu­ca­tion at Tulane Uni­ver­si­ty. He is also the found­ing direc­tor of the Edu­ca­tion Research Alliance for New Orleans, found­ing direc­tor of the Nation­al Cen­ter for Research on Edu­ca­tion Access and Choice, and a non-res­i­dent senior fel­low at the Brook­ings Insti­tu­tion. ​About Patrick Dobard:__ Patrick Dobard is the CEO of New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion com­mit­ted to deliv­ery on the promise of excel­lent pub­lic schools for every child in New Orleans. Dobard served as the Super­in­ten­dent of the Louisiana Recov­ery School Dis­trict (RSD) from 2012 to 2017. He is a native New Orlean­ian and career edu­ca­tor who began his teach­ing career in his home­town after grad­u­at­ing from South­ern Uni­ver­si­ty of New Orleans.