New Orleans

===Primary and secondary schools===
{{see also|List of schools in New Orleans}}
[[Orleans Parish School Board]] (OPSB), also known as New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS), is the public school district for the entire city.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st22_la/schooldistrict_maps/c22071_orleans/DC20SD_C22071.pdf |title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Orleans Parish, LA |publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]] |access-date=2022-07-25 |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725050548/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st22_la/schooldistrict_maps/c22071_orleans/DC20SD_C22071.pdf |url-status=live }} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st22_la/schooldistrict_maps/c22071_orleans/DC20SD_C22071_SD2MS.txt Text list] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725050548/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st22_la/schooldistrict_maps/c22071_orleans/DC20SD_C22071_SD2MS.txt |date=July 25, 2022 }}</ref> Katrina was a watershed moment for the school system. Pre-Katrina, NOPS was one of the area's largest systems (along with the [[Jefferson Parish Public Schools|Jefferson Parish public school system]]). It was also the lowest-performing school district in Louisiana. According to researchers [[Carl L. Bankston]] and Stephen J. Caldas, only 12 of the 103 public schools within the city limits showed reasonably good performance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/bookdetail.asp?book_id=3850 |title=A Troubled Dream: The Promise and Failure of School Desegregation in Louisiana |first=Carl L. |last=Bankston III |year=2002 |publisher=Vanderbilt University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226063053/https://www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/bookdetail.asp?book_id=3850 |archive-date=February 26, 2009}}</ref>

Following Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana took over most of the schools within the system (all schools that matched a nominal "worst-performing" metric). Many of these schools (and others) were subsequently granted operating charters giving them administrative independence from the Orleans Parish School Board, the [[Recovery School District]] or the [[Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education]] (BESE). At the start of the 2014 school year, all public school students in the NOPS system attended these independent [[Charter school|public charter schools]], the nation's first to do so.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harden |first1=Kari Dequine |title=New Orleans nearing a 'privatized' public school system |url=http://www.louisianaweekly.com/new-orleans-nearing-a-privatized-public-school-system/ |access-date=July 1, 2014 |newspaper=Louisiana Weekly |date=June 2, 2014 |ref=LA Weekly June 2, 2014 |quote=As the Recovery School District (RSD) shuts the doors on its remaining handful of traditional public schools, the start of the 2014 school year will usher in the nation's first completely privatized public school district. |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714190754/http://www.louisianaweekly.com/new-orleans-nearing-a-privatized-public-school-system/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The charter schools made significant and sustained gains in student achievement, led by outside operators such as [[Knowledge Is Power Program|KIPP]], the Algiers Charter School Network, and the Capital One–University of New Orleans Charter School Network. An October 2009 assessment demonstrated continued growth in the academic performance of public schools. Considering the scores of all public schools in New Orleans gives an overall school district performance score of 70.6. This score represents a 24% improvement over an equivalent pre-Katrina (2004) metric, when a district score of 56.9 was posted.<ref>"Orleans Parish school performance scores continue to improve", ''The Times-Picayune'', October 14, 2009.</ref> Notably, this score of 70.6 approaches the score (78.4) posted in 2009 by the adjacent, suburban [[Jefferson Parish Public Schools|Jefferson Parish public school system]], though that system's performance score is itself below the state average of 91.<ref>"[https://www.nola.com/opinions/article_0e7bdeae-1333-5c49-b9b8-f925b050a83c.html Jefferson Parish schools make progress, but still have long way to go: an editorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804104650/https://www.nola.com/opinions/article_0e7bdeae-1333-5c49-b9b8-f925b050a83c.html |date=August 4, 2020 }}", ''[[The Times-Picayune]]'', October 15, 2009.</ref>

One particular change was that parents could [[School choice#United States|choose which school to enroll their children in]], rather than attending the school nearest them.<ref name="The Times-Picayune 2009">"[https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_2e9fa607-c384-59c1-9412-f618b9ed686b.html Vallas wants no return to old ways] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804090334/https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_2e9fa607-c384-59c1-9412-f618b9ed686b.html |date=August 4, 2020 }}", ''[[The Times-Picayune]]'', July 25, 2009.</ref>