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Annenberg Institute at Brown University (formally Annenberg Institute School of Reform, AISR) was established at Brown University in 1993 through an anonymous gift of $5 million. Several months later, a $50-million gift – part of Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg's $500-million Challenge to the Nation to improve public education in America – enabled the fledgling Institute to considerably expand the scope of its work. In appreciation for the Ambassador's gift, AISR was renamed in his honor.
Under its first director, Dr. Theodore R. Sizer, founder and chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools, AISR built upon the work of the Coalition but with a broader mission: to support sustained, focused efforts to enhance the quality of learning of children and youth across the country.
Following Dr. Sizer's retirement in 1996, a national search was undertaken for a new director. During the search period, Dr. Vartan Gregorian, who was then president of Brown University, served as acting director, and Ramón Cortines, a member of the Board of Overseers, as interim director.
In October 1998, Dr. Warren Simmons, then director of the Philadelphia Education Fund, was appointed executive director of AISR. Under Dr. Simmons’s leadership, the Institute adopted a mission statement that concentrated on the critical need to improve schooling in the nation’s urban communities. |