The Center for Public Policy Research (CPPR) supports projects and collaborations through its Education Policy Research Program to advance our understanding of how educational policy impacts student outcomes through evidence-based and applied research. This program is an excellent complement to CPPR's other program areas.
Supported by funding from CPPR, the Education Research Alliance (ERA) at Tulane University collaborates with local education stakeholders to produce objective, rigorous, and useful research that informs the community's understanding of how to improve students' experiences in schools and beyond. Doug Harris, the Director of the Education Policy Research Program and Professor and Chair of Tulane's Economics Department, leads ERA-New Orleans.
The Alliance includes an internal team of expert researchers, a National Research Team of experts from across the country, partners within Tulane, and a Board of Advisors that comprises local community groups, teacher unions, and local and state government agencies. ERA produces research papers focused on a variety of subjects including student outcomes, parental choice, teachers & leaders, test-based accountability, charter schools & charter management organizations, and finances. Researchers at ERA include an internal team of expert researchers, a National Research Team of experts from across the country, partners within Tulane, and a Board of Advisors that includes local community groups, teacher unions, and local and state government agencies.
In June, 2025, ERA-New Orleans published a report entitled The New Orleans Post-Katrina School Reforms: 20 Years of Lessons which synthesizes findings from over two decades of research. The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the nation's most dramatic educational overhaul, where nearly all public schools were converted to charter schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
