Resilient, determined, and proud - the citizens of New Orleans continue to rebuild their lives and their city from the lingering effects of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. In the midst of efforts to revitalize and improve every aspect of life in the city, the Recovery School District is striving to secure an even stronger future for New Orleans by improving the quality of education received by its youth.

The Recovery School District (RSD) is a special district that was created by the Louisiana Department of Education in 2003. Legislation called for schools with poor performance rates to be combined forming the RSD, which would operate as a state controlled school district under the control of the Louisiana Department of Education.

Under the supervision of the Recovery School District, the hope was that underperforming and underdeveloped schools would have the structure, resources, and assistance necessary to promote higher standards of learning. Post-Katrina, the RSD has taken on a mission of changing the state of public education in New Orleans and, in the four years since the storm devastated the city, the Recovery School District has affected over 100 schools in Orleans Parish and surrounding areas.

In 2006, with the help of a grant from Cisco Systems, Inc., DOT USA was formed to help K-12 public schools in South Mississippi and Louisiana recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, a grant from the Louisiana Department of Education, approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE Board), brought 20 DOT USA TeachUp! Interns to 20 schools in the Recovery School District.

Over the course of the 2008-2009 school year the TeachUp! Interns worked closely with teachers, administrators, and district personnel to encourage the use of technology by empowering teachers with the knowledge needed to successfully infuse their daily lessons with 21st century technology tools.

The goal of the RSD is to maximize classroom effectiveness and student achievement by raising the standards of the schools and by maximizing learning environments with technology equipment and tools including interactive white boards, laptops, software, and web-based learning programs that will engage and prepare students to enter a global workforce.

“When you’re able to bring those new technologies into the classroom it really makes the lessons more engaging to the students, because you’re reaching them at their interest level,” said Kamala Baker, Coordinator of Educational Technology for the Recovery School District. “They’re into technology!”

DOT USA Louisiana Program Manager, Yvonne Lehr, notes, “The most important accomplishment of the Interns in the Recovery School district was to establish a presence in the schools that signaled a move toward the 21st Century way of living—that of an immersion in technology.  RSD leaders wisely reacted on their knowledge of the tools students were using outside of the classroom and brought in the Interns to have the RSD classroom instruction begin to match that of the outside.”

Through teacher trainings, one-on-one meetings, tutorials, guides, and resources, the TeachUp! Interns within the RSD are striving to help achieve the goals of the Recovery School District in each of their schools. The Interns are excited to have the opportunity to give back to their community and aid in the tremendous effort of improving public education and creating better prepared and more engaged students.

 “Principals in the RSD now say that the teachers are begging for new technologies—they all want an interactive white board,” said Lehr. “Change takes time, but it would be obvious to anyone walking the halls in an RSD school that delivery of instruction is changing.”

DOT USA continues to work with the Recovery School District for the 2009-2010 school year and is thrilled to continue their role in rebuilding and reshaping public education in New Orleans.