New Orleans Schools Charter a New Course

Long before Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, the city's public schools were a disaster. For decades, New Orleans students, most of them poor and African American, posted dismal results in classrooms run by badly trained teachers. Inept and corrupt education officials nearly bankrupted the district and left old, neglected campuses to fall apart. In a country with many struggling urban school systems, New Orleans was widely considered the worst.

from the LA Times