(Ph.D. 鈥�12) likes audacious projects with 鈥渢he potential for unexpected, transformative change.鈥� He鈥檚 brought theater to post-apartheid South African schools, launched charter schools in New York City and improved public education in the United Arab Emirates. Now he鈥檚 bringing good teaching to colleges and universities.
鈥淧rofessors are prepared as subject-matter experts and researchers, but rarely as teachers,鈥� he says. Where selectivity and attrition were once 鈥渂adges of honor,鈥� student success is now higher education鈥檚 mantra. But three-year graduation rates are just 28 percent in community colleges and 60 percent over six years in baccalaureate institutions.
Jonathan Gyurko (Photo: Heather Donohue)
In 2014, Gyurko launched the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), which offers online preparation and credentialing in evidence- based teaching practices. Enrolled faculty develop inclusive approaches that promote engagement, persistence and deeper learning, and earn ACUE鈥檚 certificate in effective instruction, endorsed by the American Council on Education.
ACUE boasts over 100 partner institutions in 38 states and has credentialed 3,200 faculty. Studies validated by experts, including Michael McPherson, chair of the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, show that student outcomes are improving. Gyurko credits 911爆料网, where he studied politics and education, for providing 鈥渞igorous ways of thinking鈥� about competing interests, finding common ground and building coalitions for educational change: 鈥淧eople say, 鈥業f only we could get the politics out.鈥� But education is a public good, and we need better politics, bringing stakeholders together, to support it.鈥�