The University of Chicago, already a national leader in education reform, will bring together its University-operated charter schools, teacher training and groundbreaking research in a new institute that brings significant new resources to bear on the challenges facing urban public schools.
The University today (June 3) announced the creation of the Urban Education Institute to integrate and expand its many innovative programs that improve urban education at the Pre K-12 levels.As part of its fundraising effort to support the Institute, the University has raised $63 million to date from foundations, corporations and individuals in Chicago and across the country.
Timothy Knowles will be named the Lewis-Sebring Director of the Urban Education Institute, which will be launched on July 1.Knowles previously headed the University's Center for Urban School Improvement.The new Institute will include the Consortium on Chicago School Research, the Urban Teacher Education Program, core functions of the Center for Urban School Improvement, and the University of Chicago Charter School, which operates four public elementary, middle and high schools on Chicago's South Side.
"The Institute represents the next ambitious step in the evolution of the University's innovative approach to education that links practice with the rigorous scholarship of our faculty," said President Robert J. Zimmer."The creation of this Institute reflects the high priority the University of Chicago places on improving the quality of urban education."
Knowles, who served as Deputy Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools before coming to the University of Chicago in 2003, noted that the Institute is creating a new model for urban school improvement by integrating academic research, teacher preparation, and the development of exemplary schools.
"A number of other universities are doing excellent work, but no other single place is connecting all of these programs at the scope and scale of the Chicago model," he said."By operating actual schools, we make certain that the needs of schools, teachers and students guide the research agenda, and that the approaches we develop through rigorous research are applied and assessed in the classroom.This continuous flow of knowledge makes us more accountable - it ensures that our work leads to real and measurable improvements in student learning."
In addition to the direct operation of schools, research programs and teacher preparation, the Institute's work will be closely intertwined with the University's Committee on Education, the academic unit within the Division of Social Sciences dedicated to the pursuit of multi-disciplinary scholarship in education.Founded in 2006, the Committee's members include distinguished faculty from economics, human development, mathematics, public policy, psychology, sociology, and social service administration.
"The Institute will work with the Committee on Education in a unique partnership between practitioners and scholars," said Stephen W. Raudenbush, the Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology and Chairman of the Committee on Education."The goal is to create new knowledge about how to provide excellent schooling for urban youth. This is one of the most urgent questions facing the nation and no university is more determined than the University of Chicago to find answers."
The University of Chicago has a long and distinguished history of outreach and enrichment programs for Chicago teachers, students and families, offered through a wide range of University units. The Institute also will partner with the School of Social Service Administration,the Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education, and other University programs and researchers involved in Pre K-12 education and youth welfare. Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago will also be a partner.
The early predecessor of the Institute, the Center for School Improvement, was founded 20 years ago.The Consortium on Chicago School Research was launched two years later in 1990.
The Consortium is the most extensive research enterprise of its kind, working in close partnership with the Chicago Public Schools to influence practice that directly improves the educational experience for Chicago schoolchildren.The Consortium's rich archive of quantitative and qualitative data on the Chicago Public Schools is the largest of any urban public school system.It has published nearly 100 studies and reports on key reform issues, including the identification of "five essential supports" that lead to sustained improvement at elementary schools, why freshman grades and attendance are a key predictor of high school graduation rates, and how urban schools can help students successfully transition from high school to college.
"In addition to conducting meaningful research, we pay a lot of attention to how we share the findings so that urban educators and schools make use of them to improve their practices and policies, not only in Chicago but across the nation," said John Q. Easton, executive director of the Consortium.The Consortium's approach is being emulated by start-up programs in New York City, Baltimore and St. Louis.
The University launched its first charter school in North Kenwood/Oakland in 1998.Today, the University of Chicago Charter School serves 1,100 students from pre-kindergarten through high school at four campuses.They include two elementaries, North Kenwood/Oakland and Donoghue, for pre-kindergarten through grade five; a separate North Kenwood/Oakland Middle Campus for grades six to eight; and Woodlawn, a middle and high school that will serve grades six to 12 by 2009.The University's newest school, Carter G. Woodson, will open in Fall 2008, serving sixth through eighth graders from University elementaries and the neighborhood.NKO Middle will close its campus as its staff and students move to Woodson.The University of Chicago Charter School will serve 1,834 children when operating at full capacity.
"Although the North Kenwood/Oakland school has the longest track record of performance, our four campuses already have demonstrated that all children can dramatically accelerate their learning if they are taught with skill and understanding and provided with comprehensive academic and social supports," said Knowles.
At the University's charter schools - where students are selected by random lottery without academic screening - students consistently outperform those at comparable neighborhood schools in Chicago, and a majority of students meet or exceed state standards.Donoghue Elementary was one of 11 schools nationwide and the only school in Illinois recognized for its outstanding student achievement gains in a study on behalf of New Leaders for New Schools.
In addition, the University's Urban School Improvement Network was launched in 2005 and currently encompasses 14 schools on the South and West sides, including the four University charter schools.The network has a goal of encompassing 20 schools by 2010. The Institute's charter schools and network of affiliated Chicago schools will serve more than 6,000 Chicago children by 2010.
The Institute also plans to expand its Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP), which leads to a Master of Arts degree in teaching from the University of Chicago's Graham School plus an Illinois Teaching Certificate for elementary grades (K-9).UTEP currently graduates about 25 teachers per year, and that number will double in the next few years with the addition of a high school preparation program in mathematics and science.More than 80 percent of UTEP graduates go on to teach in Chicago schools, Knowles said.
"Our model for teacher preparation combines intensive classroom teaching experience with rigorous intellectual coursework.Our teachers receive more than double the guided classroom experience than that offered in many traditional preparation programs," he noted."Equally important, we support our graduates for two years after they complete the program - providing a UTEP coach, tracking results carefully, and adjusting our training design based on evidence of student learning and achievement."
Another innovative program at the Institute is the Digital Youth Network, which teaches students in grades six through 12 to apply technology in creative ways to support ambitious teaching and learning.DYN also includes a social networking space for students, Remix World, that provides young people with online mentoring and opportunities to share work and ideas beyond the school day.
Other new programs being developed by the Institute include 6to16, a college readiness curriculum and social network that will be piloted in the Chicago Public Schools in 2009.The program's goal is to increase the number of urban students who are accepted to and graduate from college.It will begin with students early, in grade six, and support them through college graduation, grade 16.
The new Urban Education Institute will be housed in Chapin Hall, 1313 E. 60th Street, where its component programs are already located.For more information about the Institute, visit http://uei.uchicago.edu. Note: Frequent visitors to the previous version of the site may have to refresh their browsers to see the updated site.
—Prof. Chuan He
