Location Chicago, IL Headquarters Illinois, United States Founded 2001 | Website auslchicago.org Founder Martin Koldyke | |
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Key people Donald Feinstein, Ph.D., Executive DirectorShana Hayes, Managing Director, External AffairsScott Macdonald, Managing Director, Strategy and OperationsJarvis Sanford, Managing Director, Managing Director, AUSL Network Schools Mission AUSL creates schools of excellence by developing highly effective teachers and transforming educational outcomes for students in the lowest performing schools. Type of business School Management Organization and Teacher Preparation Program Similar Metropolitan Family Services, Proviso West High School, Central DuPage Hospital, New Teacher Center, Urban Prep Academies |
AUSL (Academy for Urban School Leadership) is a Chicago nonprofit school management organization founded in 2001. Today, it manages 32 Chicago Public Schools serving more than 18,000 students. Over 850 teachers have graduated from the AUSL Chicago Teacher Residency.
Contents
History
Former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) President Arne Duncan met with financier Martin Koldyke and CPS educator Dr. Donald Feinstein and developed the idea of creating a specialized training program for teachers in urban schools. That led to the development of the Chicago Teacher Residency.
Chicago Teacher Residency Program
The centerpiece of AUSL's efforts is the Chicago Teacher Residency program, a year-long urban teacher training program in Chicago's Public Schools. The 12-month, full-time, paid training program combines teacher preparation, licensure, and a master's degree.
After the training year, graduates commit to teach in an AUSL-managed Chicago Public School for at least four years.
Network of Schools
AUSL manages 32 Chicago Public Schools serving over 18,000 students. AUSL schools operate within the CPS system.
Results
Independent Research
The University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research and American Institutes for Research in 2012 released a summary from their independent research evaluating the effect of reform including AUSL schools The study concluded the following:
Criticism
A Chicago Tribune article on AUSL from February 2012 entitled "School reform organization gets average grades" stated that,
Most of AUSL turnarounds score below CPS averages on the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state benchmarks on standardized testing. Those schools that beat district averages have been accused of pushing out their lowest-performing students or those with discipline problems to artificially inflate their test scores.