The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

In early 2000, it was decided by the Executive Committee of the University Advisory Council to propose a fairly modest plan of further expansion, involving perhaps two additional sites per year for several years. Discussion with President Richard Levin and others, however, encouraged us to think that we should make a more ambitious plan. During the spring and summer of that year, therefore, the Executive Committee developed a Draft Proposal for the establishment over a twelve-year period of as many as 45 new Institutes. These would be located in as many of the fifty states as possible, so that they might have the maximum influence upon state and national policy. This Draft Proposal was the basis for discussions by the National Advisory Committee and the meeting of University and School District Administrators with President Levin in November 2000. The groups firmly endorsed the desirability of such an ambitious proposal, but they urged that the larger effort be preceded by two years of consolidation, intensification, and preparation on the part of all five of the existing Teachers Institutes.

A revised Proposal was therefore drawn up in 2001, which describes a fourteen-year initiative that includes a two-year Preparation Phase. During the first two years each of the four new Teachers Institutes would be invited to discover the most appropriate ways in which they could begin to have a larger systemic effect within their own districts. All of the participating Institutes would be conducting research into the results of their programs. And the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute would be gearing up for the longer effort, to be supported by the other Teachers Institutes, to establish over the next twelve years as many as 45 new Institutes. President Levin and officers of the Yale University Development Office are currently seeking funds for all or parts of this initiative.

Sufficient funds have already been received to make possible the launching of the Preparation Phase of the Yale National Initiative. During this period we expect to

• assess the efficacy of National Demonstration Project activities and procedures for the establishment of new Teachers Institutes,

• evaluate the accomplishments of the Teachers Institutes,

• examine the patterns of financial support for the new Institutes and their plans for sustaining their programs,

• discover how they may have the greatest systemic impact in their own districts,

• and prepare for the establishment of a national association of Teachers Institutes.

A Request for Proposals has been sent to the four newly established Teachers Institutes, all four of which have now indicated their intention to apply for a Research and Planning Grant. The anticipated range of Grants is $25,000-100,000. The time-frame for activities will be April 2002-August 2003. During the period from April 2002 through March 2003, each Institute receiving a grant will, in collaboration with the partnering school district, engage in studies on the results of Institute participation on teachers, their students, and schools in that district, and will engage in planning for the Institute to attain a systemic impact in that district. Each Institute will also be committed to continuing conversations with other participants during the spring and summer of 2003 that will be directed toward the further development of the National Initiative. Applications for Research and Planning Grants during the Preparation Phase will be received on February 28, 2002. Grants will be awarded on April 1.

On the completion of this Preparation Phase, we hope to begin the process of organizing a national association of Teachers Institutes and moving toward the establishment of additional Teachers Institutes across the nation.