Mission and Purpose
The primary mission of the The Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR) at Brown University is “to develop, share, and act on knowledge that improves the conditions and outcomes of schooling in America, especially in urban communities and in schools serving disadvantaged children.” Through their numerous projects, the Institute seeks to explore the concept of what they call a “smart education system.” These systems are beneficial to education because they create networks between community members and organizations in order to promote a higher quality of learning among students.
History
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform was founded in 1993 at Brown University. The initial establishment of the organization was made possible financially speaking through an anonymous donation to the university in the sum of $5 million. Later that year the Institute received an additional $50 million. This substantial gift came from Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg’s Challenge to the Nation, a five-year, $500 million effort to improve American Public Education. The funding from Mr. Annenberg allowed the organization to dramatically broaden the extent of its work and it was therefore renamed in his honor. The Institute’s first director, Dr. Theodore R. Sizer, worked to expand on the work he did previously as the founder and chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools, another organization at Brown University. With the Annenberg Institute, however, Sizer chose to take a much broader approach. He simply wanted to support valid efforts to improve the quality of education for young students across America. The retirement of Sizer in 1996 sparked a nation-wide search for a new director. In the fall of 1998, Dr. Warren Simmons was named executive director of the Institute and he has continued to hold the position to this day. Under Simmons, the AISR adopted a new mission statement, focusing on the need for improving education in the nation’s more urban areas. In the year 2000, the Institute launched the Task Force on the Future of Urban Districts and opened an office in New York City. In 2001 the Institute’s main headquarters were moved off of the university campus. And in 2003, the organization began publishing their own quarterly journal entitled Voices in Urban Education. Later, in 2005, the Institute worked with the Brown University’s department of education to successfully establish a Master’s Program in Urban Education Policy, a degree program that focuses on many of the issues important to their organization. The Annenberg Institute’s programs and staff continued to grow over the next couple years and in 2007, it opened a larger office in New York City.
Organizational Structure and Funding
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR) at Brown University is a non-profit research and reform organization that works with various school systems and communities to promote a higher quality of learning for students inside and outside of schools.
The Annenberg Institute receives funding form a wide array of sources in order to pursue many of its major projects. The following is a list of the organizations current and most recent funders: Annenberg Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bowne Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, Donors’ Education Collaborative, Ford Foundation, Knox County Schools, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Make the Road New York, Mobile Public Education Fund, Nellie Mae Foundation, New York Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Surdna Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Specializations and Activities
Smart education systems demonstrate a strong bond between the school district and other groups within the community. The Annenberg Institute bases their mission on four core principles that focus on the importance of seeing results, establishing equity among students, involving the community, and encouraging learning.
Major Projects and Events
Organized Communities, Stronger Schools: The Impact of Community and Your Organizing on Public School Reform – For this project, the Institute conducted a six-year study to analyze how community organizing for school reform affects the educational results in the community. The study examined the organization efforts of the residents in seven different urban communities. They then measured the impact of their efforts based on three criteria: district=level policy, school-level capacity, and student outcomes. In each of the seven case studies, the schools experienced positive results. In Austin, the groups education organizing resulted in new parent and school leadership, more funding, and even improved relationships between community members. The study conducted in eastern Pennsylvania showed that community organizing earned parents more access to school information and even caused a slight rise in high school attendance.
The Rhode Island Urban Education Task Force (UETF), one of the Institute’s more recent projects, began in 2008 when the governor of Rhode Island Donald Carcieri asked director Warren Simmons specifically to lead a task force to develop ways to enhance education in the state. The force included community members as well as governmental and civic leaders. It was focused principally in the five most urban schools including Newport, Providence, Woonsocket, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. In order to accomplish their goal, the UETF held countless forums to allow participation form the public to develop a broad range of solutions for the problem at hand. After considering these solutions and evaluating their potential for success, the group made recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly. After the submission of a final report in October of 2009, the members of the state’s government began the process of implementing a some of the recommendations made by the task force.
The Emerging Knowledge Forum is a highly notable project that was developed in 2004 and continues to take place to this day. Every year, the Annenberg Institute holds a forum that lasts two days and involves approximately 125 participants. The goal of the forum is to bring together a group of people to offer diverse thinking on how to improve the education system. The extensive group discussions allow the participants to lean about the different approaches to creating new, more beneficial system of learning. The idea is that people will leave the forum, wanting to share their newly acquired knowledge with other members of their social network. This will help to create community support for the new ideas.
Voices in Urban Education, the Annenberg Institute’s quarterly journal, was developed in 2003 and is truly and ongoing project for the organization. Each issue presents diverse viewpoints surrounding the debate on how to improve education in urban areas. By presenting a wide array of solutions and approaches, the journal challenges readers to draw their own conclusions. The Institute views the journal as “a roundtable to air diverse viewpoints and share knowledge on vital issues in urban education.”
Secondary Literature
Neuman, Mary, and Simmons Warren. "Leadership for Student Learning." Phi Delta Kappan. 82.1 (2000): 9-12. King, Deborah. "The Changing Shape of Leadership." Educational Leadership. 59.8 (2002): 61-63.
External Links
http://www.annenberginstitute.org http://www.essentialschools.org/ http://www.annenberginstitute.org/VUE/