The Katrina generation

An untold number of kids in New Orleans -- perhaps tens of thousands -- missed weeks, months, even years of school after Hurricane Katrina, reports Katy Reckdahl for The Atlantic. A decade later, advocates and researchers are beginning to grasp long-lasting effects. The same lower-income teens who waded through floodwaters and spent rootless years afterward are driving an increased need for GED programs and entry-level job-training in the city. Louisiana has the nation's highest rate of young adults not in school or working, many of them Katrina-affected. Natural disasters are often seen as hitting everyone equally, but children from fragile families recover more slowly, says Lori Peek of the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at Colorado State University. Lisa Celeste Green-Derry, a researcher and New Orleans native, says "systems" are key to uplifting traumatized students, but 10 years ago, New Orleans teens came home to systems in collapse: flood-damaged blocks, a school district in flux, and homes with limited adult supervision as parents worked or rebuilt. Today in New Orleans, youth service providers are adjusting mission and programming to adults in their mid-20s who, after Katrina, fell behind in school and life. Green-Derry explains that research shows traumatized children will experience "cognitive bumps" well into adulthood, and "tend to stall out."More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.