Pros
Fast certification. Big focus on equity, at least in words. Guaranteed job if u make it thru and still wanna teach
Cons
Kind of a shitshow. Most stressful year of my life. My whole cohort struggled immensely. Clearly values rigid control and test scores over actual education, unfortunately. Lot of people dropped out of the program. And despite what AUSL says, many former residents burn out fast and leave teaching. But hey, it does work for some people. Just know what you’re getting into. Would suggest finding and talking to people who stopped drinking the kool-aid and left the program before you commit to it. Oh, also—one of my amazing DePaul professors was very understanding of her AUSL students (about 6 of us in a class of 20) to the point where she would let us begin class by venting about our work in school…like being forced to spend 30 minutes with 12 year olds “practicing walks in straight lines at level zero” (fr). Anyway, I wanted to be a high school teacher but was placed at a middle school and was becoming increasingly disillusioned with AUSL, so this professor kindly offered to connect me with an acquaintance who taught high school English at a renowned suburban high school. I was thrilled at the opportunity to observe at this high school, and when I asked my AUSL boss connected to the university to please fill out paperwork for observing in a school (required) I was pulled into a meeting and told that this other school was not aligned with AUSL’s mission, that it would not help me be a good urban teacher, and that if I wanted to observe at this other school, I would have to “re-evaulate my place in the program”. So yea, they refused to fill out the paperwork for me to observe and told me that I should quit the program if I was interested in schools outside their network. What’s crazy is I was actually surprised and hurt. AUSL talks a lot about how they value your professional growth, but that was when I realized they only valued my growth insofar as it benefited them. Glad I got out.
