Dr. Noemi Donoso, the new CEO of New Schools for Baton Rouge, brings 30 years of transformative leadership in education. Starting as a high school English teacher in South Central Los Angeles, she founded a charter school, led successful turnaround efforts, and served in senior roles, including Chief of Innovation and Reform for Denver Public Schools and Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools. A champion of high-quality charter schools, Dr. Donoso, believes in their power to transform lives, particularly for children in poverty. She is committed to ensuring every Baton Rouge child has access to exceptional education. Learn more about New Schools for Baton Rouge and how Dr. Donoso and the team are creating a bright future for education.
Can you share the mission and vision of New Schools for Baton Rouge?
Dr. Donoso: NSBR’s mission is to ensure that every child in Baton Rouge has access to an excellent education. We do that by investing in high-quality charter schools.
How does New Schools for Baton Rouge collaborate with local communities and educators?
Dr. Donoso: First, we listen to the community. We must understand the needs, build alliances, and collaborate with community leaders, particularly in parts of Baton Rouge that lack access to high-quality schools. We must also ensure the ecosystem is ready and open for high-quality charter schools in their neighborhoods. Several years ago, NSBR launched Teach225, an initiative to elevate and invest in teachers and the teaching profession in Baton Rouge. We want to celebrate them and provide resources to support their craft. We would like to recognize and award the highest-performing teachers in Baton Rouge. We are focusing on more targeted recruitment with local and regional universities to spotlight Baton Rouge as a place where young people want to move to, live in, and teach.
What challenges do you anticipate?
Dr. Donoso: I believe that there are far more opportunities in Baton Rouge than challenges, and I think it’s a matter of being really clear on what we want to accomplish in the next two years and the next five years, and [being] disciplined about how we’re going to get there. If I were to name one challenge that we are wrestling with now, not all of our charter schools are where they need to be in delivering on our promise of excellence, but we are making progress. Last year, a third of our charter schools met our high-quality performance standard. With the new SPS data released by the state this year, more than half meet the standard. Our charter schools are improving by leaps and bounds, so our challenge and focus over the next few years is to get every charter school over that hurdle. Currently, there are 20,000 high-quality seats in Baton Rouge. Over the next five years, we want to ensure at least 30,000 high-quality seats.
Can you share some of the SPS scores and how New Schools of Baton Rouge hopes to build on these achievements?
Dr. Donoso: We created a definition and standards for a high-quality school. We want to double down on those schools that already meet and exceed those standards and provide support and improvement grants to the schools with the potential to get there. We’re expanding our teacher talent pipeline and leadership initiatives to ensure schools have the strongest possible leaders and teachers in their classrooms to help move all our schools to a high-quality program.
According to the recent SPS data released by the state, charter schools experienced tremendous academic growth. This year, 10 out of our 25 tested schools rated in the top quartile of the state for academic growth. Baton Rouge charter schools had eight of the city’s top 10 spots for academic growth among elementary and middle schools. We had seven charter schools improve an entire letter grade. One of those schools improved two letter grades, and we went from a third of Baton Rouge charter schools being high quality to over half.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to students, parents, or educators in Baton Rouge?
Dr. Donoso: Explore, visit, and learn more about the very diverse charter school choices available here. Don’t be afraid to apply to those schools. Parents and educators who want to learn more and know how to get started should call us at New Schools for Baton Rouge, and we will point you in the right direction. They’re great places to send your kids and phenomenal places to teach.
For more information, visit newschoolsbr.org.
