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Chicago’s Need for Special Education Teachers
If you’re considering a career as a teacher, you might find the most rewarding opportunities in special education. Over the past decade, Chicago and the nation have experienced a severe shortage of special education teachers. Special education teachers work with students who have a wide range of learning, mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. In 2019–20, […]
A Return to School Perspective from the Academy for Urban School Leadership
As Chicago Public Schools students head back to the classroom this month for their first full-time, in-person learning experience in 17 months, many will be grappling with significant learning and social emotional loss. After schools transitioned to remote learning in March 2020 and only partially reopened in spring 2021, an alarming number of students were […]
Twenty years of Transforming Lives in and out of the Classroom
AUSL is an equity-focused non-profit that works tirelessly with the belief that all students should have access to an excellent education. Since 2001, AUSL’s conviction for equity in education has impacted thousands of students and families who reside in under-resourced communities. This weekend the Chicago Teacher Residency celebrated the graduation of Diverse Learner, Elementary, and Middle School teachers. Hear from CTR graduate Amaziah […]
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Chicago Teacher Residency Named one of the Nation’s top Programs for Contributing to a Strong, Diverse Teacher Workforce
Chicago Teacher Residency (AUSL) has been named among the top in the country for leading the way in maintaining selective academic admissions requirements and driving greater teacher diversity in the community by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and policy organization. In a new NCTQ report, Teacher Prep Review: Program Diversity and Admissions (2021), AUSL's Chicago Teacher Residency is among the top 5% of the 1,256 programs NCTQ evaluated across the country to earn the highest distinction. Programs that earn this distinction maintain...
Nonprofit, The Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) Elects New Co-Chair and Strengthens its Board with New Members
CHICAGO, February 2, 2021 -- The Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), an education equity-focused nonprofit, which trains and places teachers in Chicago’s underserved teaching environments, is pleased to announce Cardelle B. Spangler and Mike Zafirovski as Co-Chairs, and new board members Cheri Carter and Steve Pemberton. Ms. Spangler, a Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, will serve as AUSL’s Co-Chair. Mike Zafirovski, AUSL board member since 2010, will remain as Co-Chair with Ms. Spangler. Cheri Carter, Vice President of Boeing Global Engagement (BGE), will serve as a board...
AUSL Advisory Services Launches First Webinar
AUSL Advisory Services partners with school districts across the country to help them build capacity and reach their full potential. On Tuesday, July 21st, Advisory Services partnered with AUSL's Curriculum, Instruction, and Talent Development Team to hold their first joint webinar. The webinar titled, Practical Guidance for Supporting Today's Novice Teachers featured three AUSL thought leaders: LaShawn Whitney, Associate Director of Induction, a former AUSL principal, and a graduate of the CTR, Isaac Castelaz, Principal at the National Teachers Academy, and Sam Buresch, a second-year...
Perspective: Practical Guidance for Supporting Today’s Novice Teacher
The following perspective series discusses the three-tiered method that the AUSL school network recommends to support novice teachers. AUSL’s perspective is reinforced via interviews held with novice and experienced teachers within the AUSL network and partner districts to discuss the effectiveness of various supports they received in their first year. AUSL has found that there are three key components of support necessary to build the foundation that first year teachers need to be able to best provide their students with equitable access to high quality learning. Click here to download...
Honoring Our Graduates: AUSL Network High Schools
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]AUSL extends congratulations to AUSL Network High School students. AUSL, its teachers and staff congratulate our students on their accomplishments throughout High School and wish our students well on their journey through college and beyond. Their commitment to excellence in education, especially during a second semester disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest fighting for the Black Lives Matter movement is exceptional. Congratulations on finishing your final year of school. The AUSL Network is excited to see...
Honoring Our Graduates: AUSL Network Elementary Schools
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]AUSL extends congratulations to AUSL Network Elementary School students. AUSL, its teachers and staff congratulate our students on their accomplishments throughout Elementary School and wish our students well on their journey through High School. Their commitment to excellence in education, especially during a second semester disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest fighting for the Black Lives Matter movement is exceptional. We congratulation them on finishing another year, and to our 8th graders,...
Developing a ‘North Star’ for Middle School Graduates
Developing a ‘North Star’ for Middle School Graduates Success Bound at AUSL It’s your first day of high school. The halls are crowded and loud, and the scene overwhelms you. For comfort, you opt for your 8th-grade bookbag, a sign of more familiar times. After 1st-period, you realize this bag is missing your mandatory history book. You rush down three flights of stairs, across the crowded hallways, and finally make it to your locker. You can’t remember your combination. The bell rings. You now have a tardy, and this is your first week. This scenario might sound familiar to you. The...
AUSL Teachers and Graduates of Chicago Teacher Residency address the Chicago Board of Education Meeting
On Wednesday, April 22nd Dray Patterson an instructional math coach at the Marquette School of Excellence, and Jessica Kimbrough a Diverse Learners teacher and mentor at Dvorak School of Excellence spoke at the Chicago Board of Education Board meeting. Both are graduates of the Chicago Teacher Residency (CTR) and teach in AUSL network schools. Jessica began her teaching career through the CTR, AUSL’s teacher training program, and has served as a Diverse Learners Teacher at Dvorak School of Excellence for over six years. In Jessica’s address to the CPS Board, she described her commitment...
Collins Academy High School “Our Chance Now” Lab Grand Opening
The Collins Academy held the grand opening for their “Our Chance Now” Lab, a new computer and robotics laboratory donated by Chance the Rapper’s foundation Social Works. Collins Academy received $100,000 for their new computer science program which included repurposing space and adding a Mac, robotics, gaming, and digital computer labs. The “Our Chance Now” Lab includes a Design Media lab outfitted with Mac computers, robotics and 3D printer areas, a networking computer lab, a gaming center, and an instructional area. The Lab allows the Collins Academy to provide a robust Career and...
Congressman Danny Davis Visits NTA Student Congress
Congressman Danny K. Davis, Illinois Representative from the 7th District, visited National Teachers Academy, an AUSL Network School on Friday, Ferbruary 14. Congressman Davis participated in the third annual inauguration of the NTA Student Congress. Students in grades 3-8 participated in elections. Each homeroom elected one Representative and each grade elected two Senators for the Student Congress. These students will work with NTA Principal Isaac Castelaz to address issues such as service-learning projects, selecting backpacks/uniforms, choosing incentives and more. Principal Castelaz,...
