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 |
| Corps Size: 357 |
| Average yearly temperature: 68.1° |
| Car: Access to car is essential |
Salary: See cost of living  |
New Orleans is a world-famous city where history and culture seamlessly intertwine to create endless opportunities for everyday life. In downtown New Orleans, you can visit the French Quarter and see where Tennessee Williams penned some of his most famous work, or you can stroll over to where Jelly Roll Morton got his start, playing piano in Storyville. Go uptown and you can visit the famous Audubon Zoo and Aquarium, or go to see the old gymnasium on Tulane University’s campus where Louis Armstrong once played for school dances with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. New Orleans is a city that is steeped in the innovations of its past and continues to inspire its inhabitants to this day.
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. Forty percent of adults living in the city were illiterate, an issue which still affects rebuilding efforts today.
Hurricane Katrina and Growth Plan
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which has been identified as the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. History, an unprecedented opportunity arose to create a new public education system in New Orleans. Community leaders are literally rebuilding the education system from the ground up. Unfortunately, while there are definite signs of progress in this era of reform in the Crescent City, the achievement gap still persists. Nearly 85 percent of the approximately 32,000 students in New Orleans are still at least one and a half to two years below grade level. A third of these students are as much as four or more years below grade level.
Following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, Teach For America pledged to be a part of the rebuilding process. We are rapidly scaling up our presence; in total, we will quadruple the total corps size in Greater New Orleans. The following table illustrates our increased presence:
| School District | Percentage of schools with corps members | Percentage increase from 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery School District | 80% | 37% |
| St. Bernard Parish | 87% | 87% |
| St. John the Baptist Parish | 72% | 27% |
| Jefferson Parish | 32% | 19% |
| Charter schools outside of the Recovery School District | 45% | 17% |
Teach For America is providing 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.
Rebuilding
While Greater New Orleans still faces many challenges in its recovery, signs of progress are everywhere, and there is continued demonstration of regional pride across the area. “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 87 percent of its pre-Katrina level, and in the city of New Orleans, the population is approximately 72 percent of its pre-Katrina level. 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.
New Orleans is not only rebuilding its communities - it is experiencing a renaissance. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a public education system that provides excellent academic opportunities to all students, and to be a pioneer in shaping the education reform movement in our country.
Hear corps members reflect on life in Greater New Orleans. Visit our corps member perspectives page for videos, photo galleries, and more.
Life
New Orleans inspires the kind of love that very few other cities do. New Orleans has a mythology, a personality, a soul, that is large, and that has touched people around the world. It has its own music, its own cuisine, its own way of
talking, its own architecture, its own smell, its own look and feel.
- Tom Piazza
"Why New Orleans Matters"
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. A crossroads of history, culture, nature, cuisine, and music, Greater New Orleans features a combination of activities that entertain all interests. The region's year-round sub-tropical climate lends itself to countless opportunities to bike, run, play Frisbee or basketball, or just sit and relax near one of the city’s many parks and bayous.
Whether they work in Orleans Parish or one of the surrounding parishes, almost all corps members choose to live in the City of New Orleans. New Orleans offers the opportunities of a large city as well as many small-town conveniences. Corps members can get almost everywhere in the city in a personal car or in one of the city’s streetcars 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, coworkers, and students. The neighborhoods here are vibrant and bustling, and they are hubs of community activity. Several neighborhoods had little physical storm damage while others have 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; 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, po-boys or Cajun cuisine, there are tastes for everyone’s palate.
Corps Culture
Teach For America corps members are on the front lines of the rejuvenation efforts of the Greater New Orleans public schools and believe that providing their students with an excellent education is the most crucial piece 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; in fact, over 93 percent of corps members teach in a school with at least one other corps member or alumnus.
The entire corps comes together for professional development approximately four times a semester. Additionally, each corps member meets several times a semester within a professional learning community—a small group of other corps members teaching the same subject and/or grade, led by 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 still find time to have fun, from relaxing at the local music joint, Tipitinas, to watching the Rebirth Brass Band or just sitting on a fellow corps member’s porch and catching up.
Our 220 alumni also serve as valuable resources to corps members 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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