Public School Teachers Complete Program at Yale

Sixty-two public school teachers from nineteen school districts in eight 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®.

Seven of the Yale National Fellows came from school districts that are participating for the first time this year: District of Columbia Public Schools; Franklin-McKinley School District in San José, CA; and Cape Henlopen School District, Indian River School District, and Polytech School District in Delaware. Forty-two of the Yale National Fellows were from school districts that already are planning or exploring the establishment of a new Teachers Institute for the Bay Area, CA; Chicago, IL; the Diné Nation, AZ and NM; Pittsburgh, PA; Richmond, VA; San José, CA; and Tulsa, OK. Other National Fellows came from school districts with existing Teachers Institutes located in New Castle County, DE; New Haven, CT; and Philadelphia, PA. Overall, nearly two thirds of the National Fellows were participating for the first time.

The 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 teacher writes a curriculum unit to teach his or her students about the seminar subject and to share with other teachers in their school district and, over the Internet, with teachers anywhere. The curriculum units implement academic standards of the teachers' school districts and assist the teachers in engaging and educating the students in their school courses.

The 2015 seminars, which began in early May and concluded in mid-August, were:

• "Literature and Information," led by Jessica Brantley, Associate Professor of English;
• "Explaining Character in Shakespeare," led by Paul H. Fry, Professor of English;
• "Problem Solving and the Common Core," led by Roger E. Howe, Professor of Mathematics;
• "History in our Everyday Lives: Collective Memory, Historical Writing, and Public History," led by Mary T. Y. Lui, Professor of History and of American Studies;
• "Using Film in the Classroom," led by Brigitte Peucker, Professor of Film Studies and of German; and
• "Physiological Determinants of Global Health," led by W. Mark Saltzman, Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.

A National Fellow served as the Coordinator of each seminar. The Coordinators were Carol P. Boynton of New Haven; Sydney H. Coffin of Philadelphia; Michelle Hilbeck and Barbara A. Prillaman of New Castle County, Delaware; Valerie J. Schwarz of Richmond, Virginia; and Vanessa Vitug of San José, California.

Participants lived on the Yale campus during the Intensive Session in July. Between July 6 and 17 National Fellows attended ten two-hour daily meetings of their seminars and conferred individually with their seminar leaders. Between July 6 and 9 visiting faculty from universities that are partners or prospective partners in a local Teachers Institute took part in a four-day program for individuals who have led or may lead local seminars. They observed national seminars and learned about faculty roles within an Institute. They met with national seminar leaders about what they observed, and with other experienced seminar leaders about the seminar and curriculum unit writing process.

The team from each location that is planning or considering a Teachers Institute conferred with the Director of the Yale National Initiative, James R. Vivian, about 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, eight Fellows were named their districts' teacher Representatives for the coming year. The Representatives, who lead the planning and implementing of Initiative activities locally and nationally, are:

Superintendents and other local school officials will accompany the National Fellows when they return to Yale for the Annual Conference on October 30-31.

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools, now in its eleventh year, is a long-term endeavor to influence public policy on teacher professional development, in part by establishing exemplary Teachers Institutes for high-need schools 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 high-need public schools. Evaluations have shown that the Institute approach exemplifies the characteristics of high-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.

Yale National Initiative®, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute®, and League of Teachers Institutes® are registered trademarks of Yale University.