Public School Teachers Named Yale National Fellows

Seventy-nine public school teachers from fifteen school districts in eleven communities in ten 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.

Two thirds of the teachers, named Yale National Fellows, are from seven communities that are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute: Atlanta and DeKalb County, GA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; New Castle County, DE; Richmond, VA; San Francisco, CA; and Santa Fe, NM. Other National Fellows are from Teachers Institutes that are members of the League of Teachers Institutes located in Houston, TX; New Haven, CT; Philadelphia, PA; and Pittsburgh, PA.

The twin purposes of the national seminars are to provide public school teachers further preparation in their subjects and a first-hand acquaintance 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 establishment 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 teachers in their school district and, over the Internet, with other teachers internationally.

The seminars, which begin on May 2 and conclude in mid-August, include "Race and Gender in Shakespeare," led by Paul H. Fry, William Lampson Professor of English; "Bridges: The Art and Science for Community Connections," led by Martin D. Gehner, Professor Emeritus of Architectural Engineering; "American Voices: Listening to Fiction, Poetry, and Prose," led by Langdon L. Hammer, Professor of English and of American Studies; "Estimation," led by Roger E. Howe, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Mathematics; "Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes," led by W. Mark Saltzman, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Chemical Engineering and Physiology; "The Theory and Practice of Democracy," led by Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of Political Science; and "Urban Environmental Quality and Human Health," led by John P. Wargo, Professor of Environmental Risk Analysis and Policy.

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 directors of Teachers Institutes and college and university faculty members who have led or may lead local Teacher Institute seminars. Between July 7 and 18 Fellows will attend daily seminar meetings and will confer individually with their seminar leaders.

One National Fellow will serve as the Coordinator of each seminar. The Coordinators are Carol P. Boyton of New Haven, Jennifer B. Esty of New Haven, Stephanie L. Johnson of Pittsburgh, Kristen Kurzawski of Pittsburgh, Karlene E. McGowen of Houston, Ralph E. Russo of New Haven, and Sara E. Thomas of New Haven.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools is a long-term endeavor to establish exemplary Teachers Institutes in underserved school districts in states throughout the country. Following the approach developed in New Haven and demonstrated in Houston, Pittsburgh, and other cities, it builds upon the success of a four-year National Demonstration Project. The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a permanently endowed unit of Yale University, is in its thirty-first year of operation.

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 promotes precisely those dimensions of teacher quality that improve student achievement.