Public School Teachers Complete Program at Yale

New Haven..... Sixty-eight public school teachers from sixteen school districts in nine states have completed national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.

Overall, two thirds of the National Fellows were participating for the first time. Forty nine of the Fellows came either from a school district that is planning a new Teachers Institute for Richmond, VA — or from school districts that are exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for Chicago, IL; Diné Nation, AZ; Emeryville, CA; San José, CA; San Mateo County, CA; and Tulsa, OK. Other National Fellows came from existing 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 an existing 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 seminar and to share with other teachers in their school district and, over the Internet, with teachers internationally. The curriculum units support 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 began in early May and concluded in mid-August, were:

• "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Consumer Culture," led by Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of American Studies and of History;
• "Storytelling: Fictional Narratives, Imaginary People, and the Reader's Real Life," led by Jill Campbell, Professor of English;
• "The American Presidency," led by Bryan Garsten, Professor of Political Science;
• "Narratives of Citizenship and Race since Emancipation," led by Jonathan Holloway, Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies
• "How Drugs Work," led by W. Mark Saltzman, Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering;
• "Asking Questions in Biology: Discovery versus Knowledge," led by Paul E. Turner, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and
• "Energy, Environment, and Health," led by John P. Wargo, Professor of Environmental Risk Analysis and Policy.

Participants, who lived on the Yale campus during the two-week Intensive Session in July, included not only the Yale National Fellows but also directors of Teachers Institutes, and twenty college and university faculty members who have led or may lead local Teacher Institute seminars. Between July 9 and 20 Fellows attended ten two-hour daily meetings of their seminars and conferred individually with their seminar leaders. One National Fellow served as the Coordinator of each seminar. The Coordinators were Carol P. Boynton of New Haven, Kathleen G. Gormley of New Castle County, Delaware, Sonia Henze of Pittsburgh, Kristen Kurzawski of Pittsburgh, Elizabeth R. Lasure of Charlotte, Barbara A. Prillaman of New Castle County, Delaware, and Deborah Smithey of Philadelphia.

College and university faculty members observed national seminars. They and directors met about faculty roles within an Institute and the institutional partnership an Institute represents between a school district and a college or university. They met with national seminar leaders about what they observed, and with other experienced seminar leaders about the seminar and curriculum unit writing process.

Teams from each location that is planning or considering a Teachers Institute met with the Director of the Yale National Initiative, James R. Vivian, to discuss the potential for establishing a local Teachers Institute and other ways their experience at Yale might assist them and their school district. At the conclusion of the Intensive Session, seven Fellows were named their districts' teacher Representatives for the coming year. The Representatives, who have responsibility for planning and implementing Initiative activities locally and nationally are:

Molly Myers	Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL
Marilyn Dempsey	Window Rock Unified School District, Diné Nation
Laura Turner	Emery Unified School District, Emeryville, CA
Valerie J. Schwarz	Richmond Public Schools, Richmond, VA
Jeffry K. Weathers	Jefferson Union High School District, San Mateo County, CA
Vanessa Vitug	East Side Union High School District, San José, CA
Audra Bull	Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa, OK

Superintendents and other school officials will accompany the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on October 26-27.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools is a long-term endeavor to influence public policy on teacher professional development, in part by establishing exemplary Teachers Institutes in high-need school districts 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 public schools. The League of Teachers Institutes is an alliance that advances their work locally and nationally. 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.