This week, we released the 10th annual student enrollment share report, A Growing Movement: America’s Largest Charter School Communities, which identifies communities with the highest enrollment share and largest number of students attending charter public schools.
In some communities, the growth of charter public schools has been striking. In the decade after Hurricane Katrina, almost all public school students in New Orleans—93 percent—attended charter public schools. Not only are charter schools in New Orleans serving a higher percentage of public school students than anywhere else in the nation, but they have also experienced substantial growth in their performance.
When this report was first published ten years ago, New Orleans was the only district that met the 30 percent enrollment share benchmark and just six public school districts had at least 20 percent of their students enrolled in charter schools. In 2014-15, there were 14 districts with at least 30 percent of their students attending charters and 45 school districts with a 20 percent enrollment share or more.
In addition to topping the enrollment share list, New Orleans ranks eighth in the nation for the highest number of public charter school students served by the district.
Please check out the full A Growing Movement: America’s Largest Charter School Communities report to learn more about the growth of charter schools in communities throughout the country.