A bold experiment in education

24 Apr 2014

A bold experiment in education

Re: Ben Kleban (MBA 2005)

Topics: Education-Public Education Entrepreneurship-Social Entrepreneurship Society-Civil Society or Community

A former corporate financier with Boeing, Ben Kleban (MBA 2005) planned to open a charter school in New York after HBS, but in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he was inspired to found New Orleans College Prep (NOCP). NOCP now operates three publicly funded, open enrollment charter schools aimed to ensure under-resourced children have the opportunity to succeed in college and beyond.

Four years ago, NOCP embarked upon a turnaround of Walter L. Cohen High School, once coined “America’s Most Dangerous High School” and the lowest performing school in the city. In 2014, Cohen achieved a 100 percent college acceptance rate and sent the highest percentage of its graduates to college in the city, excluding selective-admissions schools.

Most recently, in 2013, NOCP took over the operation of the lowest-performing elementary school in New Orleans and achieved the highest test score growth in the city after the first year, on track to move the school from an “F” to a “C” in two years.

London’s Sunday Telegraph declared NOCP “part of the boldest experiment in education reform seen in the United States.”

Says Kleban: “We are part of a broader revolution to establish New Orleans as the first 100 percent high-performing urban school system in our nation’s history.”

(Published April 2014)

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Ben Kleban

MBA 2005

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