New Schools for New Orleans

Our History and Mission

New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) was developed in 2006 to support an accelerating school reform effort. NSNO developed an innovative model to support and enhance these reforms in New Orleans’ unique landscape. As the result of our work – as well as the tremendous efforts of others – New Orleans’ system of school choice recently ranked at the top of more than 100 districts in the Brookings’ Education Choice and Competition Index[1].

Our mission — delivering on the promise of excellent public schools for every child in New Orleans — drives everything we do. NSNO makes strategic investments of time, expertise, and funding to support the growth of New Orleans’ high-performing system of charter schools. Our commitment to developing schools and people, building school support programs, and maintaining a reform-friendly environment will not waver until high-quality educational choices are available to all families.

Our Strategy

NSNO plays a vital role in proactively monitoring needs, developing innovation solutions, and above all, maintaining a focus on academic excellence across three strategic pillars: 1) New Orleans Strategic Leadership; 2) School Development Accelerator; and 3) Landing Pad.

NSNO SERVES THE CITY AS A STRATEGIC LEADER.

• City Leadership: Be a leading voice for academic excellence in New Orleans and influence Education Leaders to execute the New Orleans reform model
• Landscape Monitor: Identify city-wide gaps directly limiting academic excellence
• National Reform: Increase national awareness and learning of New Orleans’ model by capturing and sharing knowledge

NSNO ACCELERATES HIGH-QUALITY SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT.

• Expand What Works: Support the expansion of high-performing open-enrollment charter schools
• Launch and Innovate: Invest selectively in new Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) and schools
• Turnaround and Crises: Enable the turning around of low-performing schools and support charter boards in times of transition, academic crisis, or strategic planning

NSNO ACTS AS A LANDING PAD TO GROW, CONNECT & SUSTAIN SCHOOL SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS.

• City-wide Support: Facilitate the establishment of scalable and sustainable providers to drive academic excellence in New Orleans and maintain focus on recruiting and developing human capital (school leaders, teachers and boards)
• Local Capital: Mobilize, coordinate, or provide early stage local capital to attract and support initial growth of support providers

Results of NSNO Programming and Investments to Date

• Raised and mobilized nearly $100 million dollars for education reform in New Orleans
• In partnership with the Charter School Growth Fund, NSNO established the New Orleans Charter Excellence Fund – an initiative to transform New Orleans into the first urban district in the US where every public school student is able to attend an excellent school - with support from a five-year, $25 million commitment from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation
• Awarded federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant aligning government actors and school operators around annually turning around bottom 5% of schools in New Orleans
• Provided capital to over 30 charter schools for start-up or expansion that serve more than 13,000 students
• Student achievement at nearly 100% of open-enrollment charter schools affected by NSNO-invested support organizations

[1] http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Multimedia/Interactives/2012/ecci/pdfs/ECCI_Report_Whitehurst.pdf