Community Renewal Society

On average, AUSL turnaround schools are outperforming neighborhood schools on state tests. But most of the improvement has been in math and science, while reading achievement is still lagging. And some neighborhood schools that have not gotten the same resources are gaining ground at a similar clip.

If ever there was a superstar principal, it’s Angel Turner.

When Turner took over Morton Elementary School as an Academy for Urban School Leadership turnaround principal, it was one of the worst schools in the district. Now, three years later, it is in the middle of the pack: The percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards has increased by more than 30 points.Turner’s success helped set the stage for the Chicago Public Schools leadership to propose another 10 turnarounds next year—the most ever proposed for a single year—with six of them managed by the non-profit Academy for Urban School Leadership.

CPS trumpeted its plans with a press release that praised AUSL. “In 2011, student growth in ISAT composite scores at AUSL elementary schools (8%) was more than double the district in average growth (3.8%),” the release stated.

The AUSL model has made true believers out of not just CPS officials, but those at the top of the education ladder. When President-Elect Barack Obama announced he was bringing CEO Arne Duncan to Washington D.C., he made the announcement at Dodge Elementary, an AUSL teacher training academy. As Secretary of Education, Duncan has praised AUSL and pushed the turnaround strategy, providing hefty federal grants for districts that undertake them.

Other districts are now studying the AUSL turnaround model, in which a new principal and a cadre of new, enthusiastic staff are brought in and given intensive professional development and a plethora of material and resources. Most classrooms get an extra hand, an AUSL teacher-resident, to help with small-group lessons.

Recently, Mayor Rahm Emanuel noted that Los Angeles school leaders are preparing to use AUSL’s model there. “It is no secret that I am a zealot about AUSL,” Emanuel said at a media event designed to sell the district’s latest turnaround plan. 

A long-anticipated report from the Consortium on Chicago School Research that district officials say will be released soon will likely provide a more detailed glimpse into AUSL’s performance.

A Catalyst Chicago analysis, meanwhile, shows the district’s portrayal of AUSL is incomplete. Though officials like to say that AUSL achieves quick results and that they can’t wait for the targeted schools to improve on their own, closer scrutiny reveals a more complex picture that reveals how difficult it is to make substantial progress at low-achieving schools.

Read more at Catalyst Chicago