Public School Teachers Named Yale National Fellows

Leading Development of New Teachers Institutes...

Eighty-four public school teachers from twenty-two school districts in eleven states 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®.

Forty of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, are from school districts that are exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for Chicago, IL; DeKalb County, GA; Emeryville, CA; Richmond, VA and San Mateo County, CA. Superintendents of six other school districts that are participating in the Yale Initiative for the first time this year nominated twelve teachers to become National Fellows from the Navajo Nation; San José, CA; and Tulsa, OK. Other National Fellows come from Teachers Institutes that are members of the League of Teachers Institutes® located in Charlotte, NC; New Castle County, DE; New Haven, CT; Philadelphia, PA; and Pittsburgh, PA.

The dual 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 increases their leadership in a League Teachers Institute or prepares them to lead the development of a new Teachers Institute. Each participating teacher writes a curriculum unit to teach his or her students what they learn in seminars and to share with other teachers in their school district and, through the Initiative Web site, with teachers internationally. The curriculum units address the academic standards of the teachers' school districts and assist the teachers in engaging and educating the students in their school courses.

The seminars, which begin on May 6 and conclude in mid-August, include:

• "Chemistry of Everyday Things," led by Gary W. Brudvig, Professor of Chemistry and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry;
• "The Art of Reading People: Character, Expression, Interpretation," led by Jill Campbell, Professor of English;
• "Love and Politics in the Sonnet," led by Paul H. Fry, Professor of English;
• "The Idea of America," led by Bryan Garsten, Professor of Political Science;
• "Great Ideas of Primary Mathematics," led by Roger E. Howe, Professor of Mathematics;
• "The Big Easy: Literary New Orleans and Intangible Heritage," led by Joseph R. Roach, Professor of Theater, of English, of African American Studies, and of American Studies; and
• "Organs and Artificial Organs," 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 11 and 22, Fellows will attend daily seminar meetings and will confer individually with their seminar leaders. Superintendents and other school officials will accompany the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on October 21-22.

One National Fellow will serve as the Coordinator of each seminar. The Coordinators are Carol P. Boynton of New Haven, Intisar Hamidullah of Charlotte, Deborah A. James of New Haven, Elizabeth R. Lasure of Charlotte, Eric J. Laurenson of Pittsburgh, Barbara A. Prillaman of New Castle County, Delaware, and Nancy Rudolph of New Castle County, Delaware.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools is a long-term endeavor to establish exemplary Teachers Institutes in high-need school districts in states throughout 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. The League of Teachers Institutes is an alliance that advances their work locally and nationally.

Teachers Institutes are educational partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen teaching and learning in a community's public schools. Evaluations have shown that the Institute approach exemplifies the characteristics of the highest-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.