Conclusion

Annual Report 2003 Contents

Having celebrated its 25th anniversary the year before, during 2003 the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute worked to consolidate progress in its two complementary areas of activity: the local and the national.

In New Haven it conducted a program of five seminars for Fellows, half of whom participated for the first time, as did three of the five professors serving as seminar leaders. It continued its work with the Centers for Professional and Curricular Development in the schools. It developed further the relationship of its resources to school curricula. It extended a concentrated effort to draw in and support teachers new to the district, several of whom were by the end of the year acting as their schools' Institute Representatives even while in their first or second years of teaching. In his first full year in a newly created position, the Associate Director solidified his and the Institute's role in supporting New Haven's efforts to recruit, develop and retain well-qualified teachers.

During 2003, the Institute's work on the national level was notably assisted by an extension of the support for the National Demonstration Project by the Wallace Foundation and a grant for 2002-2003 by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. This support enabled the two-year Preparation Phase of the Yale National Initiative to be brought to completion. The Preparation Phase included Research and Planning Grants for the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute and the Houston Teachers Institute, which have significantly contributed to the evaluation of the Teachers Institute approach. The Preparation Phase enabled the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute to collate and analyze data from the questionnaires and surveys conducted during the National Demonstration Project, establish a Web site for the Yale National Initiative, and prepare the "Understandings" and "Necessary Procedures" that serve as basis for membership in a new League of Teachers Institutes. Finally, the Preparation Phase made possible a summary evaluation of the National Demonstration Project by Rogers Smith and other researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Institute looks forward to maintaining its local vigor and extending its national influence as a proven model of high-quality professional development for teachers. The Institute is seeking funds to continue the Yale National Initiative, which aspires to establish as many as 45 new Teachers Institutes in states across the nation.

The Institute looks forward to maintaining its local vigor and extending its national influence as a proven model of high-quality professional development for teachers.

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