National school reform powered, in part, by NLU
by Tracy Kremer
NLU's pioneering approach to urban teacher preparation is part of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's plan to turn around underperforming public schools across the country.
On a chilly December morning in 2008, teachers, school administrators and community leaders crowded alongside leagues of television cameras and reporters in a school gymnasium on Chicago's west side. The large room with freshly–painted cinder block walls was silent in expectation.
Just a month before, Barack Obama was elected to become the next president of the United States. Now, at Dodge Renaissance Academy, a school that has come to represent major strides in Chicago education reform, he was about to announce fellow Chicagoan Arne Duncan, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, as his choice for the nation's next secretary of education.
Partners in urban school reform
During his time in Chicago, Duncan welcomed some of the most entrepreneurial, and at times unconventional, ideas to improve the quality of the city's schools—and he recently said he was "eager to apply some of the lessons we've learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country." That openness encouraged some of Chicago's leading voices in education to form strong partnerships to transform low–performing schools into schools of excellence.
In 2001, the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a privately funded, nonprofit organization, chose NLU as its partner to develop a new model of teacher preparation. The result, the country's first Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) program, put NLU's National College of Education (NCE) at the forefront of urban school turnaround success. Building upon NCE's experience in both traditional and alternative certification, faculty developed a fluid curriculum that would respond to resident teachers' day–to–day needs, build strong peer support among residents in each cohort and be sensitive to the urban school context.
In 2003, NLU and AUSL transformed Dodge Renaissance Academy into Chicago's first AUSL teacher training academy. Dodge, formerly one of Chicago's most struggling public schools, is now the place where many aspiring teachers in Chicago learn how to teach, and how to make a difference, in urban classrooms.
"We know how hard it is for teachers to be really effective in urban classrooms, and we know university faculty have to get out into urban schools to help teacher candidates use what we've learned from research to help kids achieve," says Alison Hilsabeck, NCE dean. "The Urban Teacher Residency model we created with AUSL engages future teachers more fully in the experience of teaching in an urban setting."
Modeled after a medical residency program, the UTR replaces short student teacher stints with a dynamic full–year residency that integrates hands–on classroom experience with graduate level coursework and takes place in a teacher training academy, like Dodge, under the supervision of a master teacher. The program ultimately equips participants with an NLU Master of Arts in Teaching degree and initial certification from the state of Illinois.
John Ayers, an urban school reformer in Chicago for 20 years who was a consultant to NCE, noted, "We are preparing teachers for a much more complicated enterprise than current models allow. An urban setting demands a level of intensity and engagement by teachers that is over and above standard practice."
Turning around struggling schools
AUSL also manages select turnaround initiatives for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) by re–engineering the school's curriculum, teachers and administration. AUSL staff and faculty undergo six weeks of professional development to align curriculum and student assessments, decide on school procedures and discipline standards and create a culture of excellence for their school.
NCE faculty members provide training and informal professional development, working with principals and mentor teachers. When the school opens, the students return to find new teachers, staff, curriculum, a renovated building and a culture of success.
"AUSL achieves something that I'm personally very proud to be part of," said Jarvis Sanford, principal of Dodge. At a press conference with Duncan and President Obama in Washington, D.C., on July 24, 2009, he said, "I'm privileged to see children who were once written off as failures begin to excel at school; children who had been struggling, or worse, not even showing up for class. That's a profound thing to witness."
Turning around struggling schools
Over the past six years, NLU and AUSL have trained more than 275 teachers, who serve more than 5,000 CPS children from low–income backgrounds. More than 91 percent of NLU's AUSL graduates have remained in teaching. In contrast, nearly 40 percent of all public school teachers in Chicago leave the profession within five years, according to a 2007 study by the Illinois Education Research Council.
And, while standardized test scores may not paint a full picture of student learning, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test at the Chicago Academy Elementary School rose from 74 percent in 2003 to 86 percent in 2007. For Dodge Renaissance Academy, the percentage rose from 34 percent in 2004 to 65 percent in 2007.
Linda Darling–Hammond, a Stanford University professor who has advised President Obama on education, wrote in a June 2008 Phi Delta Kappan article, "The teacher residency model holds particular promise for addressing the problems of teacher preparation, recruitment and retention for high–need districts—and may constitute one of the most important reforms of teacher education."
Duncan said during his remarks at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) Conference on June 22, 2009, "Leading foundations and the national education unions are both interested in turnarounds. Nonprofits like New School Venture Fund, Teach for America, the New Teacher Project and New Leaders for New Schools will also play a role. The education reform movement is not a table where we all sit around and talk. It's a train that is leaving the station, gaining speed, momentum and direction. It is time for everyone everywhere to get on board."
Coming soon: Institute for Urban Education at NLU
NLU's partnerships with AUSL and other major educational organizations such as the Golden Apple Foundation and New Leaders for New Schools highlighted the need to centralize these urban education initiatives in some way. Planning is now underway to create the National College of Education Institute for Urban Education at NLU.
The Institute will tackle the systemic and pervasive problems that continue to face urban school systems by building upon NLU's innovative and tested programs. "We know there's a lot more work to be done, and it's up to us to propose and implement bold solutions," said Alison Hilsabeck, dean of NLU's National College of Education. "We need to fundamentally redesign teacher preparation. We need to give teachers the tools and knowledge to more effectively connect their teaching skills to student learning. Urban teacher residencies serve as an important benchmark in that redesign process."
John Ayers agrees. "There is intense urgency to improve city schools because young people's lives are in the balance. This is their shot at a good education, and Chicago parents and the broader community know we are not doing enough to serve them and get them the skills they need." He adds, "The urgency should inspire us to be bold. NLU has embraced change, contributed to innovation and even welcomed the competition that has entered into public education and our field—all to find ways to get much stronger outcomes for urban young people. Their future depends on it, and so does ours."
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