Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model? [img=/assets/blog/200712/obama08_badge2tl.jpg F:R]Obama education advisor Linda Darling-Hammond describes the Obama Teacher Residency proposal as being based on the AUSL model: "AUSL has created that exemplify good practice for urban students, mentoring them for 2 years thereafter, and getting them to pledge 4 years of service in the Chicago schools, after which time most of them are skilled urban teachers committed to a long-term career in the profession. Boston and Denver have similar models. Federal proposals in the House and Senate would help to get these off the ground in more cities." What do you think about AUSL as a national model? How is it all that different from other teacher prep programs in the city?
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Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
hahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 6:01 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
You got to be a idiot Alexander to support an inexperienced person like Obama who was in the Illinois Senate just 3 years ago.
Just think if that was you. Should I vote for you in three years for president of the U.S.A.?
Just think if that was you. Should I vote for you in three years for president of the U.S.A.?
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 6:29 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
One thing AUSL does really well is recognize that teacher who are going to be teaching in urban environments need specialized training and support in order to deal with the demands of that setting. They also are dedicated to coaching teachers in the first few years of teaching which is such a critical time in retention and development of best practice.
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 8:24 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
I worked with a group of AUSL teachers. For the most part, they were aloof, arrogant, and convinced -- from the day of their arrival -- that all of the experienced teachers in our school were incompetent. Their instructional skills were weak, and their classroom management skills non-existent.
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 9:29 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
I think any program which provides incentives for people who want to affect change in urban school settings is program which should be considered implementing in other high-need areas.
AUSL...Chicago Teaching Fellows...Teach For America, are all programs which will find favor in an Obama administration. Teachers in these programs have the urgency of now, whereas many teachers who come from traditional teacher prep schools may not feel the urgency of now.
AUSL...Chicago Teaching Fellows...Teach For America, are all programs which will find favor in an Obama administration. Teachers in these programs have the urgency of now, whereas many teachers who come from traditional teacher prep schools may not feel the urgency of now.
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 9:43 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
I think any program which provides incentives for people who want to affect change in urban school settings is program which should be considered implementing in other high-need areas.
AUSL...Chicago Teaching Fellows...Teach For America, are all programs which will find favor in an Obama administration. Teachers in these programs have the urgency of now, whereas many teachers who come from traditional teacher prep schools may not feel the urgency of now.
AUSL...Chicago Teaching Fellows...Teach For America, are all programs which will find favor in an Obama administration. Teachers in these programs have the urgency of now, whereas many teachers who come from traditional teacher prep schools may not feel the urgency of now.
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 10:39 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
Yes, urgency as in, ::I want a paycheck now::
Whatever happens to the children after I find a job that pays real money, I can always point to my halo months of the dabbling I did in teaching in the big bad inner city.
And then I can run for office, a la Jack Ryan....
Whatever happens to the children after I find a job that pays real money, I can always point to my halo months of the dabbling I did in teaching in the big bad inner city.
And then I can run for office, a la Jack Ryan....
Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 11:21 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
Can anybody cite AUSL retention stats and compare them to Teach for America? I know AUSL teachers have to promise to stay in CPS for five years after they finish the program, so already they should be ahead of TFA.
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
there's a new report out from public agenda showing that alt cert (TFA, NTP, and Troops to Teachers) and regularly prepared teachers both want many of the same things (smaller classes, for example) but feel differently about their early experiences and training -- generally being more concerned than their colleagues. check it out.
http://www.publicagenda.org/press/press_release_detail.cfm?list=89
http://www.publicagenda.org/press/press_release_detail.cfm?list=89
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 1:20 AM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
I'm up late and answering my own question. From AUSL's web site:
In the last six years, AUSL has trained 153 teachers who serve more than 4500 low-income Chicago Public School children. AUSL maintains a 95% retention rate of its program graduates.
They opened in 2001, so they haven't had many grads yet who could choose to bail out.
TFA's web site says they now have "over 12,000 alumni." Apparently their web site no longer puts a percentage on how many remain in education. I think I read their site a few years ago and they said 40 percent stayed in education, but that included policy, not just teachers and principals, so I'd assume their retention rate is even lower.
In the last six years, AUSL has trained 153 teachers who serve more than 4500 low-income Chicago Public School children. AUSL maintains a 95% retention rate of its program graduates.
They opened in 2001, so they haven't had many grads yet who could choose to bail out.
TFA's web site says they now have "over 12,000 alumni." Apparently their web site no longer puts a percentage on how many remain in education. I think I read their site a few years ago and they said 40 percent stayed in education, but that included policy, not just teachers and principals, so I'd assume their retention rate is even lower.
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 2:09 AM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
Linda Darling Hammond should know better than to jump on the bandwagon with a fraud. But maybe this is typical of "school reform" corporate style in the USA today.
AUSL is like the kid who's going to play major league ball and his 50 home runs a season. Everybody knows it; just as his Mom after next week's little league game. Preened and overfunded by CPS and corporate Chicago (lurkiing in the background, Mike Koldyke and the other "choice" freaks), AUSL has gotten credit for gains it never made, like the graduate students going to those on-line diploma mills getting degrees for stuff they've never learned in classes they've never attended.
AUSL began its career by taking over a prime school building on the northwest side (the old Wright College on Austin Ave.) when all of the schools around it were overcrowded. From that pampered position, they have since continued to position themselves to be a "success" by their own measures.
But in the real world, their claims demand a big second look.
1. They "reformed" Dodge Elementary (one of the first three 'renaissance' schools in Chicago by getting rid of most of the "old" Dodge kids and importing a new group. This isn't a turnaround; it's a dumping ground. They dumped out the old kids (many to Grant, which was subsequently closed) and then trumpeted their mastery to the world, based on a falsification of even the most basic facts.
2. Then Arne Duncan gave them Sherman -- which became the "Sherman School of Excellence" (self proclaimed). They were so cocky about Sherman that they allowed the Tribune (Stephanie Banchero) to spend a year in the classroom of one of their superstar teachers (who turned out to have more experience in PR than teaching), documenting in excruciating detail the problems she faced (and the huge mistakes she made, such as that really dumb "pajama party" that the Trib put on page one) until, turns out, super teacher bailed out at year's end.
3. Undaunted, AUSL took on Harvard Elementary (another "school of excellence"?) after the requisite teacher bashing "hearings" (which were scheduled by Arne at a time when the Harvard staff were still at work). When I asked Arne at the AUSL dog and pony show how AUSL could have become a "turnaround" miracle when there were no data from Sherman, he basically (as usual) first dodged the question, then lied.
AUSL is based on the kind of corporate model that went out when "Chainsaw Al Dunlap" was caught defrauding the stockholders at Sunbeam after a similar run of enormous (and false) PR from the likes of Tribune Corp. "Turnaround" specialists are less and less in vogue in the corporate world nowadays because so many of them have turned out to be best (like AUSL) at cheap PR and cooking the books (e.g., Dodge) than at actual long term process and even "product."
Sad that Linda Darling Hammond has bought this BS, but hopefully there will be some people who can counter it. Meanwhile, if AUSL wants to master teaching (and teacher training) for the inner city, they could turn around and leave the Wright College building and move into one of the vacant spots on the west side or south side, where they'd need double security for their parking lot and their prima donnas would be demanding extra security after 4:00 p.m.
And they could still stay at "Wright." Only they should pay to have the old Richard Wright Elementary School fixed up, so they could enjoy the real "urban" they claim to love so much.
Merry Christmas, shipmates.
AUSL is like the kid who's going to play major league ball and his 50 home runs a season. Everybody knows it; just as his Mom after next week's little league game. Preened and overfunded by CPS and corporate Chicago (lurkiing in the background, Mike Koldyke and the other "choice" freaks), AUSL has gotten credit for gains it never made, like the graduate students going to those on-line diploma mills getting degrees for stuff they've never learned in classes they've never attended.
AUSL began its career by taking over a prime school building on the northwest side (the old Wright College on Austin Ave.) when all of the schools around it were overcrowded. From that pampered position, they have since continued to position themselves to be a "success" by their own measures.
But in the real world, their claims demand a big second look.
1. They "reformed" Dodge Elementary (one of the first three 'renaissance' schools in Chicago by getting rid of most of the "old" Dodge kids and importing a new group. This isn't a turnaround; it's a dumping ground. They dumped out the old kids (many to Grant, which was subsequently closed) and then trumpeted their mastery to the world, based on a falsification of even the most basic facts.
2. Then Arne Duncan gave them Sherman -- which became the "Sherman School of Excellence" (self proclaimed). They were so cocky about Sherman that they allowed the Tribune (Stephanie Banchero) to spend a year in the classroom of one of their superstar teachers (who turned out to have more experience in PR than teaching), documenting in excruciating detail the problems she faced (and the huge mistakes she made, such as that really dumb "pajama party" that the Trib put on page one) until, turns out, super teacher bailed out at year's end.
3. Undaunted, AUSL took on Harvard Elementary (another "school of excellence"?) after the requisite teacher bashing "hearings" (which were scheduled by Arne at a time when the Harvard staff were still at work). When I asked Arne at the AUSL dog and pony show how AUSL could have become a "turnaround" miracle when there were no data from Sherman, he basically (as usual) first dodged the question, then lied.
AUSL is based on the kind of corporate model that went out when "Chainsaw Al Dunlap" was caught defrauding the stockholders at Sunbeam after a similar run of enormous (and false) PR from the likes of Tribune Corp. "Turnaround" specialists are less and less in vogue in the corporate world nowadays because so many of them have turned out to be best (like AUSL) at cheap PR and cooking the books (e.g., Dodge) than at actual long term process and even "product."
Sad that Linda Darling Hammond has bought this BS, but hopefully there will be some people who can counter it. Meanwhile, if AUSL wants to master teaching (and teacher training) for the inner city, they could turn around and leave the Wright College building and move into one of the vacant spots on the west side or south side, where they'd need double security for their parking lot and their prima donnas would be demanding extra security after 4:00 p.m.
And they could still stay at "Wright." Only they should pay to have the old Richard Wright Elementary School fixed up, so they could enjoy the real "urban" they claim to love so much.
Merry Christmas, shipmates.
Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 8:16 AM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
Can the idiotic last post of "confused" be deleted as inappropriate, please?
Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 9:37 PM
Should AUSL Be A National Teacher Prep Model?
I am a "veteran" teacher who currently teaches at an AUSL school. I am more impressed with the Edison School model of which my children attended for a while, than I am with AUSL.
However, I do like the school because I feel I have everything I need to deliver a quality education to my students. The teachers are, for the most part, young and inexperienced. My experience really shines mostly because I am a good teacher who is allowing God to shape me into a better one each day. So far a fairly good experience.
However, I think the Edison model is better for meeting the lifelong needs of students as opposed to AUSL which teaches to the test.
However, I do like the school because I feel I have everything I need to deliver a quality education to my students. The teachers are, for the most part, young and inexperienced. My experience really shines mostly because I am a good teacher who is allowing God to shape me into a better one each day. So far a fairly good experience.
However, I think the Edison model is better for meeting the lifelong needs of students as opposed to AUSL which teaches to the test.
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