Teachers Institute Approach

Teachers Institutes are partnerships between universities and school districts designed to strengthen teaching and learning in high-need public schools. This pioneering approach to content-based professional development for K-12 teachers has been developed by the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute since 1978. At the core of its program is a series of collegial seminars in which faculty members contribute their knowledge of a subject, while the school teachers contribute their expertise in pedagogy and understanding of their students. As part of a seminar, each teacher uses the university’s resources to write a curriculum unit designed specifically for their students. Since 2005, the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute has helped support the establishment of Teachers Institutes based on its model across the country through the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools®.