Public School Teachers Complete Yale Program
NEW HAVEN, CT - Fifty-six public school teachers from sixteen school districts in eleven states and the District of Columbia have completed national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®, now celebrating its twentieth year.
More than half of the National Fellows participated in national seminars for the first time. Thirty-nine of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, came from school districts that are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for Anchorage, AK; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; the District of Columbia; the Navajo Nation, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San Jose, CA; and locations in Texas. Seventeen National Fellows came from Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; Tulsa, OK; Philadelphia, PA; and New Haven, CT.
Led by Yale faculty, national seminars provide public school teachers with 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.
The 2025 seminars, which began on May 2 and concluded in mid-August, were:
- "Art, Design, and Biology," led by Timothy Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art
- "The Art of Writing and Revision," led by Jessica Brantley, Frederick W. Hilles Professor of English, and Kim Shirkhani, Senior Lecturer in English
- "Graphic Narratives as Teaching Tools," led by Marta Figlerowicz, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
- "Infectious Respiratory Disease," led by Jordan Peccia, Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Professor of Environmental Engineering
- "Teaching with and through Maps," led by Ayesha Ramachandran, Professor of Comparative Literature
National Fellows served as the Coordinator for each seminar. The Coordinators were: Carol Boynton of New Haven, CT; Kristina Kirby of San Jose, CA; Tara McKee of Tulsa, OK; Amanda McMahon of Richmond, VA; Sharon Ponder Ballard of Chicago, IL; and Valerie Schwarz of Richmond, VA.
Participants lived on the Yale campus during the Intensive Session in July. Between July 7 and 18 National Fellows attended ten two-hour daily meetings of their seminars and met individually with their seminar leader.
The team from each location conferred with the Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and its National Initiative, Stephanie Reid, about the ways their experience in the national program strengthens their leadership in an existing Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the establishment of a new Teachers Institute.
At the conclusion of the Intensive Session, Fellows who serve as teacher Representatives for the Initiative met to discuss the results of the Session and plans for the coming year. The teacher Representatives, who will lead the planning and implementing of Initiative activities locally and nationally in 2025-26, are:
| Sandy Alvarez | District of Columbia Public Schools, Washington, D.C. |
| Sharon Ponder Ballard | Chicago Public Schools, IL |
| Carol Boynton | New Haven Public Schools, CT |
| Lauren Freeman | Pittsburgh Public Schools, PA |
| Danina Garcia | The School District of Philadelphia, PA |
| Debra Jenkins | Hearne Independent School District, TX |
| Kristina Kirby | East Side Union High School District, San Jose, CA |
| Alyssa Lucadamo | Brandywine School District, DE |
| Tara McKee | Tulsa Public Schools, OK |
| Valerie Schwarz | Richmond Public Schools, VA |
| Jolene Smith | Kayenta Unified School District on the Navajo Nation, AZ |
Superintendents will join the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on November 7-8, 2025.
The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools® is a program of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. The Initiative supports the establishment of Teachers Institutes for high-poverty, high-minority school districts around the country that follow the model developed originally in New Haven and implemented now in other cities. Established through partnerships between universities and public school districts, Teachers Institutes offer content-based professional development for K-12 public school teachers through collegial seminars led by college or university faculty. Backed by rigorous evaluations over more than three decades, the Teachers Institute approach strengthens teaching, student engagement, and teacher retention. It also increases teachers' morale and enthusiasm, as well as their standards and expectations of their students.