Public School Teachers Complete National Seminars at Yale

Seventy public school teachers from fifteen school districts in eleven communities in ten states have completed national seminars and an Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools.

About two thirds of the teachers, designated Yale National Fellows, were 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 were from Teachers Institutes in Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New Haven that are members of the National Initiative League.

The twin purposes of the national seminars were to acquaint public school teachers with the Teachers Institute approach to high quality professional development, and to cultivate their leadership either in a League Teachers Institute or in the development of a new Teachers Institute. Each participating teacher wrote a curriculum unit to teach his or her students what they learned, to share with teachers in their school district, and to disseminate to other teachers internationally over the Internet.

The seven seminars led by Yale faculty members, which began in early May and concluded in mid-August, were:

  • "Race and Gender in Shakespeare," led by Paul H. Fry, William Lamspon 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;
  • "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 lived and shared meals on the Yale campus, included not only the Yale National Fellows but also directors of Teachers Institutes and twenty-five college and university faculty members who have led or may lead local Teacher Institute seminars. Between July 7 and 18 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. 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.

College and university faculty members who have led local Institute seminars and those from institutions that may become partners in establishing a new Teachers Institute observed national seminars. They and directors met about the Teachers Institute approach, 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, and the purpose and function of a University Advisory Council in a Teachers Institute.

Institute directors met on a range of topics from evaluation and documentation, to finance and fund raising, to dissemination and the national Web site, to League policies and procedures.

Teams from each city or county that is planning or exploring a Teachers Institute met with the Director of the Yale National Initiative, James R. Vivian, to discuss their potential Teachers Institute. At the conclusion of the Intensive Session, seven Fellows were named their communities' teacher Representatives. The Representatives, who now have responsibility for planning and implementing Initiative activities locally and nationally, and their cities are:

Sarah B. Humphrey

Atlanta

Nicole M. Schubert

Charlotte

Sharon Ponder

Chicago

Raymond F. Theilacker

New Castle County

Valerie Schwarz

Richmond

Lisa Ernst

San Francisco

K. Danielle Gothie

Santa Fe

The Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools is a long-term endeavor to establish exemplary Teachers Institutes in under-served school districts in states throughout the country. Following the approach developed in New Haven and demonstrated in other cities, it builds upon the success of a four-year National Demonstration Project.

Connecticut Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Joe Courtney and Senators Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd have introduced a bill (H.R. 3209 and S. 2212) to create a grant program to establish such Institutes in states throughout the nation. The Representatives' plan is modeled after the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. The million the legislation would authorize to be expended over 5 years would provide for the establishment of as many as 8 Teachers Institutes each year, so that by the fifth year there would be an exemplary Institute in as many as 40 states. These Institutes would enable state and local education policy makers to examine this tested, innovative approach as they reform their policies and practices for teacher professional development.

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.