About
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Sarah Newell Usdin is a member of the Orleans Parish School Board. She is the founder and CEO of New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in New Orleans, Louisiana. She created NSNO in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to assist in the recovery and reformation of public education. NSNO has helped drive dramatic student achievement gains in New Orleans in three key ways: recruiting, placing and/or developing quality teachers and principals; maintaining a strategic charter school development strategy; and supporting a performance-driven environment. NSNO has effectively advocated for a reform-driven environment, validated through the award of a $33.6 million Investing in Innovation (i3) grant to turn around schools in New Orleans and Tennessee. Previously, Sarah served as a partner with The New Teacher Project (TNTP), working to recruit, train, and alternatively certify thousands of high-quality public school teachers, and as Teach for America's executive director in Louisiana. After college, Sarah taught in Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship and in Baton Rouge as a Teach For America corps member. Sarah majored in religion and German at Colgate University. She holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University. She is a Fellow of the second class of the Aspen-Pahara Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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