Public School Teachers Named Yale National Fellows
Lead Development of Teachers Institutes

The national seminar on "Immigration and Migration and the Making of a Modern American City," July 2014. (From left to right: National Fellows Barbara A. Prillaman, New Castle County; Julie So, San José; Molly A. Myers, Chicago; Sobeyda Rivera, Richmond; Erin Breault, Pittsburgh; and seminar leader Mary T. Y. Lui.)

Sixty-five public school teachers from twenty school districts in eight states and the District of Columbia have been chosen to participate in national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.

Eight of the Yale National Fellows were nominated by superintendents of school districts that are participating for the first time this year: Ganado Unified School District in the Diné Nation; District of Columbia Public Schools; Franklin-McKinley School District in San José, CA; and Cape Henlopen School District, Indian River School District, and Polytech School District in Delaware. Forty-four of the Yale National Fellows are from school districts that already are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for the Bay Area, CA; Chicago, IL; the Diné Nation, AZ and NM; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San José, CA; and Tulsa, OK. Other National Fellows come from existing Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; New Haven, CT; and Philadelphia, PA. Overall, nearly two thirds of the National Fellows are participating for the first time.

The purposes of the national seminars are to provide public school teachers deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach and first-hand experience with the Teachers Institute approach to high-quality professional development. This fosters their leadership in an existing Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the development of a new Teachers Institute. Each teacher writes a curriculum unit to teach his or her students about the seminar subject and to share with other teachers in their school district and, over the Internet, with teachers anywhere. The curriculum units implement academic standards of the teachers’ school districts and assist the teachers in engaging and educating the students in their school courses.

The 2015 seminars, which begin on May 8 and conclude in mid-August, are:

  • "Literature and Information," led by Jessica Brantley, Associate Professor of English;
  • "Explaining Character in Shakespeare," led by Paul H. Fry, Professor of English;
  • "Problem Solving and the Common Core," led by Roger E. Howe, Professor of Mathematics;
  • "History in our Everyday Lives: Collective Memory, Historical Writing, and Public History," led by Mary T. Y. Lui, Professor of History and of American Studies;
  • "Using Film in the Classroom," led by Brigitte Peucker, Professor of Film Studies and of German; and
  • "Physiological Determinants of Global Health," led by W. Mark Saltzman, Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.

Participants in the two-week Intensive Session in July, who live on the Yale campus, will include not only the Yale National Fellows but also college and university faculty members who have led or may lead local Teachers Institute seminars at partner colleges and universities around the country. Between July 6 and 17, Fellows will attend daily seminar meetings and will confer individually with their seminar leader. Superintendents and other local school officials will accompany the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on October 30-31.

One National Fellow will serve as the Coordinator for each seminar. The Coordinators are: Carol P. Boynton of New Haven; Sydney H. Coffin of Philadelphia; Michelle Hilbeck and Barbara A. Prillaman of New Castle County, Delaware; Valerie J. Schwarz of Richmond, Virginia; and Vanessa Vitug of San José, California.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools, now in its eleventh year, is a long-term endeavor to influence public policy on teacher professional development, in part by establishing exemplary Teachers Institutes for high-need schools in states around the country. Following the approach developed in New Haven and implemented in other cities, it builds upon the success of a four-year National Demonstration Project.

Teachers Institutes are educational partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen teaching and learning in a community’s high-need public schools. Evaluations have shown that the Institute approach exemplifies the characteristics of high-quality teacher professional development, enhances teacher quality in the ways known to improve student achievement, and encourages participants to remain in teaching in their schools.

Yale National Initiative®, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute®, and League of Teachers Institute® are registered trademarks of Yale University.