Last month, Crescent City Schools received news from the Louisiana Department of Education that all three of its schools earned a grade of “C” due to students’ performance on state assessments in spring 2025.
As a network of open enrollment schools, each of these “C” grades is worth celebrating, and Mildred Osborne Charter School’s rise to a “C” grade is of particular significance. Mildred Osborne Charter School is the result of a merger between two schools – Akili Academy (a member of the CCS network since 2012) and Mildred Osborne, previously operated by another charter network.
Prior to the July 2023 merger, Osborne’s School Performance Score (SPS) score was 48.4, which was a grade of “F” (based on Spring 2023 scores). After two years under CCS leadership, the school’s SPS score has increased by nearly 13 points to reach a grade of “C”.
For CCS, a network fiercely committed to turnaround work, Osborne’s rise to a grade of “C” marks the third time the network has transformed a failing school into a “C” school.
“We are the only network of schools in the city of New Orleans with this record of success with turnaround. We have transformed every single school that we run from failing status to be a “C” school, and we continue to sustain student growth into the future. We’re great at growing kids and transforming schools,” shared Julie Lause, Chief of Schools and CCS Co-Founder.
CCS has been focused on whole-school turnaround – assuming operations of an entire school that was struggling and transforming it – since its founding in 2010. In 2013, two years after its takeover, Harriet Tubman Charter School achieved a “C” rating; in 2016, Dorothy Height Charter School achieved a “C” after three years under CCS operations.
In addition to the overall SPS grades, both Dorothy Height Charter School and Harriet Tubman Charter School both received grades of “A” for student progress. Osborne received a grade of “B” for student progress.
“We think it’s tremendously important to highlight progress – how much our students gain relative to previous years – because it really shows what is happening in the building and in the classrooms,” shared CEO Kate Mehok. She went on to add:
“Here at CCS, we will continue setting our sights higher but we want to take time to celebrate our three “C” schools. Our students and staff deserve to celebrate their big accomplishments.”
