Throughout the 2007-08 school year, Education Week’s Lesli A. Maxwell is chronicling the experiences of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science & Technology, the first public school to reopen after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’ hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. • The “View From King” dispatches are part of our yearlong special series focusing on education recovery and reform efforts in New Orleans.
Galatia Jones, a 4th grader at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in New Orleans, reacts after covering teacher Joseph Recasner’s face with whipped cream to celebrate good test scores.
At the end of the school’s first year back at home at its Lower Ninth Ward campus, all but four of 49 students at the King charter school passed the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, a requirement for them to be promoted to the 5th grade.
Tulane defensive line coach Grant Higgison, right, shows students at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology how to line up in a defensive stance and fire off the ball on the snap.
Students at a charter school in the Lower Ninth Ward had what one 4th grader described as "the best day of the year": a visit from Tulane's football players with a message to hit the books.
Midyear at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School brings an intense focus on students’ reading skills and readiness for Louisiana’s high-stakes exams.
Two days before the federal holiday recognizing Martin Luther King Jr., the students and staff members at his namesake public school in the Lower Ninth Ward here staged a scaled-down version of what has been one of their traditional events to honor the slain civil rights leader.
Prekindergartners at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in New Orleans practice singing "Jingle Bell Rock" in preparation for their upcoming holiday show.
Feren Pitts, left, a 21-year-old biology major at Dillard University, reviews math problems with 8th graders Jennifer Dennis, center, and Jolinda Brown in Eric Johnson's after-school tutoring class at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in New Orleans.
In Louisiana, 8th graders who fail the LEAP exam can’t advance to high school. Last spring, despite the disruption from Hurricane Katrina, all of King’s 8th graders passed.
Much is riding on how King’s older students perform as the first quarter winds down. With charter schools under scrutiny and Louisiana’s high-stakes tests ahead, the school's principal and teachers are exhorting students to do their part. Part of an ongoing series.
Students move from teacher Ann Ford's reading class to a neighboring 2nd grade classroom late last month at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward .
The re-opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward has raised hopes that one of the city’s most devastated neighborhoods will rebound around it.
Prekindergarten students at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in New Orleans file past a poster of the slain civil rights leaders, following one of the blue lines in the floor tiles that all children in the school use when moving through the halls.
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology’s return to the Lower Ninth Ward has been the story of recovery and rebuilding in New Orleans.
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