Benefits to Participating Locations

The Yale National Initiative offers a range of services to school districts and universities that are exploring or planning an Institute, as well as to Institutes that have been established. It provides opportunities for teachers from those school districts and from those Institutes to participate in national seminars in New Haven. It provides opportunities for acquainting university faculty members and school and university officials with the Teachers Institute Approach. It may also provide advice on specific problems, and site visits by members of a National Initiative team. It enables Teachers Institutes to participate in research activities and to share in their results. There are also meetings of the directors of the Teachers Institutes, and an Annual Conference. The office of the Director of the National Initiative will handle all requests that Institutes or participating school districts or universities may make for assistance from League members.

There is an annual cycle of events through which the Initiative services and opportunities are coordinated. In May the teachers selected to participate as National Fellows in one of the national seminars attend an Organizational Session in New Haven. In July, when Fellows return for the Intensive Session, they are joined by university faculty members, who observe national seminars and attend meetings on the Teachers Institute Approach. In October, National Fellows, together with their superintendents and other officials from their school districts, report on and plan for the Initiative's work locally and nationally. The Fellows describe the teaching of, and student response to, curriculum units they developed in the national seminars; some of their students also will describe what they learned from curriculum units developed in national seminars; each location reports on progress they are making locally; the national seminars reconvene; and break-out sessions address the efficacy of the Teachers Institute Approach.

The National Steering Committee, which is composed of a teacher from each Teachers Institute, takes a major responsibility for planning the common work and for encouraging communication among the teachers at the various Institutes and the participating school districts. It is complemented by the National University Advisory Council, which consists of a faculty member from each Institute.

For school districts that are planning or exploring the establishment of a Teachers Institute, teachers represent their colleagues to assist with planning, organizing, and conducting Initiative activities. They promote the Initiative to other teachers in the district(s) schools and ensure that they may have a direct role in designing Initiative programs to meet their own needs and the needs of their students.

From 1985 through 2005, there was also a National Advisory Committee, appointed by the Yale President, which assisted the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute with the dissemination, evaluation, and development of its programs, including the Yale National Initiative.