Robert Siegel （Host）： 9 years ago today, Hurricane Katrina demolished much of New Orleans and gutted almost all of its public schools. Today, the school system is unlike any other in the nation. More than 90% of the city’s students this fall are attending charter schools run by dozens of private nonprofit organizations. All parents choose their kids school regardless of where they live. The NPR Ed team is focusing on these and other remarkable changes in the New Orleans schools this fall. As Claudio Sanchez reports, some say this so-called competitive market-driven system is the future of public education, and that New Orleans is the model.

Claudio Sanchez （Byline）： A massive $1.8 billion school construction project is underway here. Almost all the new buildings will eventually house charter schools like George Washington Carver Collegiate Academy in the city’s Ninth Ward. It operates out of a maze of double-wide trailers in a big open field not far from its future home, which for now is nothing more than a skeleton of steel beams. Buses arrive and unload 320 teenagers in white polo shirts and khaki pants.

Unidentified Woman #1： Scholars, I need everybody inside the line. Hands to your side. Please do not touch the rim. Remember…

Claudio： Kids cannot wear colors that are not the school’s colors. They cannot walk outside the blue lines painted on the floors. Too many accessories, too much bling—all banned. Carver’s strict approach to discipline and academics were devised not by a central administration or school board, but by collegiate academies—one of 42 private nonprofit organizations that have pretty much taken over public education in New Orleans. Each one of the 85 charter schools under this system has its own curriculum, its own hiring policies. The expectation—results, namely high test scores.

Jerel Bryant： I got into this because I recognize the stakes of it.

Claudio： Carver principal Jerel Bryant.

Jerel： Here is a group of people who are not getting what they deserved.

Claudio： Bryant, 29, grew up in Harlem , New York, graduated from Yale and came to New Orleans in 2007. Like most of the young people who flocked here after Katrina, Bryant had no teaching experience, but says he wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids who had been through so much. Jessica Butler, 15, was in elementary school when Katrina demolished her home.

Jessica Butler： We basically lived in our car for, like, two weeks. And when I actually got to school, I was the new kid. I was the kid from New Orleans.

Claudio： Jessica and her family fled to Houston where she says they did not feel welcome. 16-year-old Clarence Plummer and his family ended up in Houston, too.

Clarence Plummer： And once I got to Texas, people looked at me differently because I was from New Orleans. And they looked at me like, oh, you supposed to be a gangster, let me test and see how real you are. So I’m like, how you just assume that I’m one of them people？ I just come here to go to school. I’m to learn like you.

Claudio： Clarence lost count of the fights he got into in Houston. Carver Academy, on the other hand, has been good for him.

Clarence： Because now it’s like the teachers aren’t really teachers. It’s like they’re actually people you can sit down and talk to like part of your family. So it’s like reaching for their approval on most of the things you do.

Claudio： That change in how kids view their education is why New Orleans has come under a microscope. The city’s children—almost all African American and poor—are now part of an experiment, a chance to rethink everything, says principal Bryant.

Jerel： There is something here that requires some change. I mean, this city, it’s the gamble city for a reason—whether you want to call it an experiment, we have to give it a fair opportunity to see if this can work.

Claudio： 9 years after the state turned the city’s public schools over to charter organizations, test scores have shot up, and kids are outpacing their peers throughout Louisiana. But are New Orleans schools today good enough？

John Ayers： I think the evidence is mixed.

Claudio： John Ayers is director of the Cowen Institute for Public Education at Tulane University. It has chronicled the takeover of New Orleans’ public schools since 2007.

John： Before the storm, 65% of students were attending a failing school. Now, about 13% are in failing schools. And we replaced a system that was rife with corruption and failure, and that’s kind of a miracle. But…

Claudio： In a decentralized school system with 45,000 students, Ayers concedes some kids still fall through the cracks.

John： Chronic absenteeism and truancy problems have not been dealt with well. We have not done a great job on special ed., which is common. We’ve got data that suggests a degree of success. But we’re aiming at basic skills, not at mastery. And mastery is what you need to get to…to go to the next grade. So we only have 19% of the young people in Orleans Parish hitting mastery.

Claudio： For a system that’s supposed to be a model for the nation, critics say that’s far from impressive.

Richard Kahlenberg： My reading of the evidence is that it’s been overblown. There’s still substantial numbers of schools that struggle in New Orleans.

Claudio： Richard Kahlenberg, senior fellow with the Century Foundation, is a critic of the most important feature of the New Orleans experiment—school choice.

Richard： We’ve had corporate reformers come into the public school system and impose this market-based model. The problem is that in education, choice by itself—unregulated choice will often lead to higher levels of segregation, greater inequality. And that is quite disturbing.

Claudio： So sure, says Kahlenberg, parents can choose, but there aren’t enough spots in good schools. White students, meanwhile, disproportionately attend the top-performing charters, or so-called A and B schools, in part because these schools kept their selective admissions policies after Katrina. Still, Ayers insists, school choice works better than people think.

John： We are the only city that has created the first true market in public education and, by no means, a perfect market. But listen, it’s unique.

Claudio： Parents, meanwhile, seem split. At this city-wide fair, hundreds have shown up to pick up free school supplies. Denise Molosong’s three daughters all attend charters.

Denise Molosong： If an organization or some sort wants to invest and take interest in the school system, and if they can produce a quality education, then I think it’s great. And the children are the ones that benefit from it.

Unidentified Girl： Oh, my gracious.

Denise： Oh, my goodness.

Claudio： Molosong says her three little girls are thriving.

Unidentified Woman #2： What size does she wear？

Claudio： A few tables down, Marlise Franklin waits in line for a free polo shirt for each of her two kids. She put her 15-year-old daughter in a non-charter school this year—one of only six left in the entire city. It’s been a lot tougher finding the right school for her 6-year-old, says Franklin, because he has a learning disability, and the charter school that he went to last year didn’t treat him or her very well.

Marlise Franklin： They never put me around the table to try to tell me what’s going on with him or anything like that. I was in the blind, and so this year coming up, I’m educated about it so they won’t be able to fool me this time.

Jerel： Good morning, team.

Unidentified Staff： Good morning, Mr. Bryant.

Jerel： It’s good to see you all.

Unidentified Staff： It’s good to be seen.

Claudio： It’s 8 A.M. at George Washington Carver Collegiate Academy. Principal Jerel Bryant gathers his staff before kids arrive. He agrees with parents who say there is a lot to fix. Indeed, the discipline policies at collegiate academy schools, including Carver, have prompted a civil rights complaint by parents who say discipline is so harsh it verges on abuse. Bryant is not free to discuss the issue. He has a lot more to worry about. Less than a fourth of his ninth graders this year are reading at grade level. And a fifth have a learning disability.

Jerel： We don’t deserve a lot of time to make this work because it’s too high stakes. It’s not about politics, it’s about kids. You get one childhood, and we have to make it count for kids.

Unidentified Woman #3： Who are we？

Unidentified Staff： Carver Collegiate Academy. When one rises, we all rise.

Unidentified Woman #3： How do we start？

Unidentified Staff： One step, one classroom, one school.

Claudio： Before he wraps up his morning meeting, Bryant joins his staff in an incantation of sorts, the same one students will have heard hundreds of times by the end of the school year.

Unidentified Woman #3： Where are you headed？

Unidentified Staff： To college.

Unidentified Woman #3： And will you succeed？

Unidentified Staff： Yes.

Jerel： Exceed the expectation.

（Stomping）

Jerel： C.

Unidentified Staff： C.

Jerel： A.

Unidentified Staff： Team.

Claudio： It’s 8：20, and teachers scurry to their classrooms well aware that the entire country is watching.

羅伯特·西格爾（主持人）：9年前的今天，卡特里娜颶風(fēng)大面積地摧毀了新奧爾良以及它幾乎所有的公立學(xué)?！，F(xiàn)在，新奧爾良的學(xué)校制度不同于本國的其他學(xué)校系統(tǒng)。這個(gè)秋天，90%的城市學(xué)生去由一些私人的非營利組織創(chuàng)辦的特許學(xué)校上學(xué)。所有的家長都不以他們的住址而為孩子選擇學(xué)校。NPR的教育團(tuán)隊(duì)正在關(guān)注今年秋天新奧爾良學(xué)校這樣或那樣顯著的變化。 據(jù)勞迪奧·桑切斯報(bào)導(dǎo)，一些人認(rèn)為這個(gè)所謂的有競爭力的、以市場為導(dǎo)向的教育系統(tǒng)是公共教育未來發(fā)展的方向，新奧爾良就是一個(gè)試點(diǎn)。

克勞迪奧·桑切斯（撰稿人）：一項(xiàng)耗資18億美元的大型學(xué)校建設(shè)工程正在進(jìn)行中。幾乎所有新的建筑物最終都會(huì)建成像該市第九區(qū)的喬治·華盛頓卡弗學(xué)院中學(xué)這樣的特許學(xué)校。這項(xiàng)工程在離它新址不遠(yuǎn)的一片廣闊的空地中用一堆密集的加寬拖車開始運(yùn)作，現(xiàn)在還只是一個(gè)鋼梁骨架。汽車每天運(yùn)送320名穿著白色馬球衫和卡其色褲子的學(xué)生來到這里。

不知名女士# 1：同學(xué)們，我需要每個(gè)人都站在線內(nèi)，雙手放在身體兩側(cè)，別觸碰邊緣線。切記……

克勞迪奧：孩子們不能穿學(xué)校規(guī)定以外顏色的衣服，他們不能走出地板上劃的藍(lán)線。（身上）太多裝飾品、太多閃亮的東西都被禁止。卡弗嚴(yán)格的紀(jì)律和教學(xué)制度不是由中央政府或?qū)W校董事會(huì)制定的，而是由Collegiate Academies（新奧爾良第一家特許學(xué)校管理機(jī)構(gòu)）制定的，它是42個(gè)私人非營利機(jī)構(gòu)之一，在新奧爾良接管大部分的公共教育。在這個(gè)系統(tǒng)下的85所特許學(xué)校都有各自的課程以及招生政策。這樣做的目的就是（讓學(xué)生們）取得高的考試分?jǐn)?shù)。

杰雷爾·布萊恩特：我投身其中是因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)識到了這里面的利害關(guān)系。

克勞迪奧：這是卡弗的校長杰雷爾·布萊恩特。

杰雷爾：這里有許多人沒有得到應(yīng)得的東西。

克勞迪奧：布萊恩特，今年29歲，在紐約的哈萊姆區(qū)（美國黑人住宅區(qū)）長大。他畢業(yè)于美國耶魯大學(xué)，在2007年來到新奧爾良。與大部分因?yàn)榭ㄌ乩锬蕊Z風(fēng)而聚集在這里的年輕人一樣，布萊恩特沒有教學(xué)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，但是他說想為那些經(jīng)歷如此之多的孩子們改變?nèi)松＝芪骺āぐ吞乩?，今?5歲，在卡特里娜颶風(fēng)摧毀她家的時(shí)候還在上小學(xué)。

杰西卡·巴特勒：我們基本上都住在車上，住了有兩個(gè)星期左右。當(dāng)我真正能上學(xué)的時(shí)候，我是一個(gè)新學(xué)生，一個(gè)來自新奧爾良的學(xué)生。

克勞迪奧：杰西卡和她的家人逃到了休斯頓，她說在那兒他們并不受歡迎。16歲的卡拉倫斯·普盧默和他的家人也來到了休斯頓。

卡拉倫斯·普盧默：當(dāng)我來到德克薩斯州，人們看我的眼光就不一樣，因?yàn)槲襾碜孕聤W爾良。他們看我的眼神就像在說：“噢，你應(yīng)該是一個(gè)流氓，讓我來檢驗(yàn)?zāi)阌卸鄩摹！彼晕耶?dāng)時(shí)就在想，你怎么能推測我就是他們中的一份子？我只是來這里上學(xué)，跟你們一樣是來學(xué)習(xí)的。

克勞迪奧：卡拉倫斯已經(jīng)數(shù)不清自己在休斯頓經(jīng)歷了多少場斗爭。但是卡弗中學(xué)卻對他很好。

卡拉倫斯：因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在的老師不是真正的老師，比如他們能夠真正跟你坐下來聊天，就像家人一樣。就像你身邊大部分的事都能征求他們的意見一樣。

克勞迪奧：孩子們?nèi)绾慰创逃@一改變就是為什么新奧爾良就像被放在顯微鏡下審視。這個(gè)城市的孩子——幾乎都是非裔美國人和窮人，現(xiàn)在都是實(shí)驗(yàn)的一部分，這是一個(gè)重新思考每件事的機(jī)會(huì)，布萊恩特校長說道。

杰雷爾：這里需要一些改變。我的意思是，這座城市叫作賭城是有原因的——不管你是否管它叫做一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)，我們必須給它一個(gè)公平的機(jī)會(huì)，看看是否能成功。

克勞迪奧：在路易斯安那州把新奧爾良市的公共學(xué)校變成特許學(xué)校的9年后，（學(xué)生們）的成績迅速提高，那里的學(xué)生（學(xué)習(xí)成績）超過在路易斯安那州其他城市的同齡人。但是現(xiàn)在新奧爾良的學(xué)校夠好了嗎？

約翰·艾爾：我認(rèn)為證據(jù)是混雜的。

克勞迪奧：約翰·艾爾是杜蘭大學(xué)考恩研究所公共教育的主任。該研究所記錄了自2007年以來新奧爾良公立學(xué)校被接管后的情況。

約翰：在颶風(fēng)發(fā)生之前，65%的學(xué)生到差勁的學(xué)校上學(xué)。現(xiàn)在，大約13%的學(xué)生還面臨這種情況。我們?nèi)〈艘粋€(gè)充滿腐敗與落后的制度。這是一個(gè)奇跡。但是……

克勞迪奧：在一個(gè)有45000名學(xué)生的分散管理的學(xué)校制度里，艾爾承認(rèn)還有一些孩子被忽視了。

約翰：長期曠課和逃學(xué)的問題還沒有被處理好。我們在特殊教育方面做得還不夠好，這是普遍的現(xiàn)象。我們有數(shù)據(jù)顯示我們獲得了一定程度的成功。但是我們的目標(biāo)是在基本的技能，而不是精通的程度。你需要到下一個(gè)年級才能達(dá)到精通的程度。因此在新奧爾良教區(qū)我們只有19%的學(xué)生到達(dá)了精通的程度。

克勞迪奧：對于一個(gè)被認(rèn)為是本國示范的教育系統(tǒng)，批評者說這不足以讓人信服。

理查德·卡倫貝格：我認(rèn)為這些證據(jù)被夸大了，還有大量新奧爾良的學(xué)校沒有取得成功。

克勞迪奧：理查德·卡倫貝格，世紀(jì)基金會(huì)的高級研究員，是新奧爾良（學(xué)校建設(shè)）實(shí)驗(yàn)最重要的環(huán)節(jié)——學(xué)校選擇的評論員。

理查德：我們與改革者合作，一起投身到公立學(xué)校系統(tǒng)（的建設(shè)），實(shí)施這種市場化的模式。問題就在于在教育中，擇校本身——不規(guī)范的擇校會(huì)導(dǎo)致更深的隔離，更多的不公平。這很讓人困擾。

克勞迪奧：所以是的，卡倫貝格說道，家長們有權(quán)選擇學(xué)校，但是好學(xué)校的數(shù)量不夠。與此同時(shí)，白人學(xué)生不成比例地進(jìn)入了好的特許學(xué)校，或者所謂的A類學(xué)?；駼類學(xué)校，部分原因是由于這些學(xué)校在卡特里娜颶風(fēng)發(fā)生之后延續(xù)了自己選擇性的招生政策。但是艾爾仍然堅(jiān)持擇校比人們想象得更有效。

約翰：我們是唯一創(chuàng)立了第一個(gè)真正的公共教育市場的城市，而非一個(gè)完美的市場。但是聽著，這是獨(dú)一無二的。

克勞迪奧：這個(gè)時(shí)候，家長們（的選擇）很不一致。在這個(gè)全市范圍內(nèi)的集市，成百上千位家長出現(xiàn)，去領(lǐng)取免費(fèi)的學(xué)校用品，丹尼斯·莫洛桑的三個(gè)女兒都到特許學(xué)校上學(xué)。

丹尼斯·莫洛桑：如果一個(gè)機(jī)構(gòu)對學(xué)校制度感興趣，想對其進(jìn)行投資，而如果他們能創(chuàng)立一個(gè)有質(zhì)量的教育制度，那么我覺得是很好的，孩子們是其中的受益人。

不知名女孩：噢，我的天啊。

丹尼斯：噢，上帝啊。

克勞迪奧：莫洛桑說她的三個(gè)小女孩都長得很快。

不知名女士#2：她穿多少碼？

克勞迪奧：幾張桌子開外，馬萊斯·富蘭克林正在排隊(duì)為她的兩個(gè)孩子各領(lǐng)取一件免費(fèi)的馬球衫，今年，她把15歲的女兒送到了非特許學(xué)校，這是全市僅剩的6所非特許學(xué)校的其中一所。給她6歲的孩子找到合適的學(xué)校變得更加困難，富蘭克林說道，因?yàn)樗袑W(xué)習(xí)障礙，他去年去的特許學(xué)校并沒有很好的對待他或者她。

馬萊斯·富蘭克林：他們從來不告訴我他在學(xué)校發(fā)生的事。我一無所知，所以今年開始，我有了之前的教訓(xùn)，他們這次不能把我當(dāng)作傻子。

杰雷爾：早上好，各位。

不知名員工：早上好，布萊恩特先生。

杰雷爾：很高興看到你們所有人。

不知名員工：很高興能來到這里。

克勞迪奧：現(xiàn)在是早上8： 00，在喬治·華盛頓卡弗中學(xué)里，杰雷爾·布萊恩特校長在孩子們來之前召集了他所有的員工。他同意那些認(rèn)為很多東西需要改進(jìn)的家長們的看法。的確，那些包括卡弗中學(xué)在內(nèi)的學(xué)院中學(xué)制定的紀(jì)律制度，引起了家長們的抱怨，他們認(rèn)為這些紀(jì)律制度太嚴(yán)厲，都接近于虐待。布萊恩特沒有時(shí)間去討論這個(gè)問題，他還有許多東西要擔(dān)心。不到四分之一的九年級學(xué)生達(dá)到了應(yīng)有的閱讀水平，五分之一的學(xué)生有學(xué)習(xí)障礙。

杰雷爾：我們沒有太多的時(shí)間去完成這件事，因?yàn)樗娘L(fēng)險(xiǎn)太大了。不是由于政策的問題，而是因?yàn)楹⒆?。你只有一個(gè)童年，我們得讓孩子們過得有價(jià)值。

不知名女士# 3：我們是誰？

不知名員工：卡佛中學(xué)。一個(gè)人成功，我們都成功。

不知名女士# 3：我們?nèi)绾伍_始？

不知名員工：一個(gè)步子，一間教室，一所學(xué)校。

克勞迪奧：在結(jié)束自己早晨的會(huì)議之前，布萊恩特和他的員工一起喊出如同咒語般的口號，這是到了每個(gè)學(xué)年末學(xué)生們都會(huì)聽到數(shù)百次的口號。

不知名女士# 3：你要去哪兒？

不知名員工：去上大學(xué)。

不知名女士# 3：你會(huì)成功嗎？

不知名員工：會(huì)。

杰雷爾：我們一定會(huì)超過預(yù)期。

（跺腳）

杰雷爾：C。

不知名員工：C。

杰雷爾：A。

不知名員工：團(tuán)隊(duì)。

克勞迪奧：現(xiàn)在是8：20，老師們急忙趕去教室，他們知道整個(gè)國家都在看著自己。