The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a commitment of $10.3 million to the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) to support the turnaround of chronically underperforming Chicagp Public Schools.

AUSL is the only national program of its kind to combine a teacher training residency with a school turnaround strategy to dramatically improve academic achievement. AUSL already has led the turnaround of two Chicago elementary schools—the Sherman School of Excellence, which opened in Englewood in September 2006, and the Harvard School of Excellence, which opened in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood in September 2007.

AUSL will use the funds to transform three CPS-selected high schools over the next several years and expand its teacher residency program.

AUSL's Urban Teacher Residency program pairs recent college graduates and mid-career teachers with experienced anchor teachers who serve as their mentors for an intensive, year-long apprenticeship.

Over the past six years, AUSL has trained nearly 250 teachers who serve more than 5,000 Chicago Public School children from low-income backgrounds. AUSL maintains a 91 percent retention rate among graduates of its teacher training program. By contrast, nearly 40 percent of all public school teachers in Chicago leave the profession, at least temporarily, within five years, according to a 2007 study by the Illinois Education Research Council.

Academy for Urban School Leadership was founded in 2001 by Martin J. Koldyke, venture capitalist and founder of The Golden Apple Foundation. AUSL's mission is to improve student achievement in chronically failing schools by attracting, retaining, and training highly effective teachers and school leaders, ultimately transforming schools into schools of excellence by opening and managing turnaround schools.

I wonder what place these leaders see for Tablet PCs, UMPCs and other mobile PCs. It seems from this vantage point that leadership requires use of state-of-the-art electronic communication tools.

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