When the Saints Go Marching Out: Long-Term Outcomes for Student Evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

I examine long-term academic performance and college going for students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Students who are forced to switch schools due to the hurricanes experience sharp declines in test scores in the first year following the hurricanes. However, by the third and fourth years after the disaster, evacuees displaced from Orleans Parish see a 0.18 standard deviation improvement in scores. Gains are concentrated among students initially in the lowest quintiles of the test score distribution. Katrina evacuees do not show gains in college going relative to earlier cohorts from their same pre-hurricane high schools.