Maya McFadden file photo
Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Development Edith Johnson: “This will be a game changer."
Yale Teaching Fellowship timeline for first cohort.
The school district’s retention and recruitment efforts just got a $10 million boost, thanks to a new Yale-funded fellowship to support teacher certification as part of a joint effort between the city, Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), and New Haven Promise.
City education leaders announced that new Yale Teaching Fellowship program on Nov. 1. The program will support 104 teachers’ certification tracks for new and current New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) educators and paraprofessionals.
The new program comes at a time when NHPS is facing a shortage of nearly 200 staffers, as of the start of this school year. In September, the district’s coordinator of recruitment and retention, Sarah Diggs, stepped down after two years at the job. The job posting for her position is still up.
For 104 educators who commit to teaching in NHPS for a minimum of three years, Yale has agreed to fully fund the opportunity to receive a master’s degree from SCSU. New Haven Promise, a Yale-funded college scholarship program that supports NHPS students, will be tasked with recruiting teachers and lending professional advisement.
Educators who don’t follow through on their three-year commitment will have to pay back a portion of their funding.
The fellowship comes from the Yale & Slavery Research Project and is also intended to increase diversity among NHPS staff. Beginning in May 2025, when the first cohort’s summer term kicks off, the program will last for four years. Twenty-six educators will be enrolled per year.
“Yale has made a commitment to the local educational landscape for many years,” said New Haven Promise President Patricia Melton. “But these are new times, with new challenges, and this teaching fellowship makes so much sense.”
Applications for the program’s first cohort are being accepted from now until Jan. 1, 2025 for the first cohort of the Yale Teaching Fellowship, which kicks off for summer term in May 2025.
The program will have three fellowship tracks: a new teachers track, a paraprofessionals and support staff track, and a current teachers track. Across the board, it will “train and support a wave of highly qualified teachers in New Haven’s public schools.”
Click here and here for the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the partners involved.
NHPS began the 2024 – 25 school year with 77 classroom teacher vacancies, including 42 vacancies in math, science, and special education. Teachers in those high-priority subject areas will be on an expedited academic timeline.
Mayor Justin Elicker, SCSU Interim President Dwayne Smith, NHPS Supt. Madeline Negrón, and Melton joined Yale University President Maurie McInnis at an Oct. 30 launch event at Wexler-Grant Community School.
In addition to thanking Yale, Negrón said, “In New Haven, we know the power of partnership.”
McInnis declared that “teachers matter most” when it comes to student success.
“Today, we are building on the incredible partnership we are growing with Yale,” Elicker added.
When discussing Yale’s financial investment in the program, Yale Teaching Fellowship Director Christine Gentry said, “It ensures that everyone who goes through this fellowship does not have to pay or borrow a penny to get their master’s degree, get certified, and get high-quality training in how to do this very important job.”
Gentry continued, “The quality of the teachers we put in front of kids is central to addressing current and persistent educational opportunity gaps. That’s the first thing that runs underneath all of this work: The research that’s been done on the importance of quality teachers.”
NHPS Director of Professional Learning and Leadership Development Edith Johnson said, “This will be a game changer. We’re creating a pipeline for people who want to be educators, and we’re doing it in a way where these new teachers will be able to put all of their time and energy into learning this work. It isn’t a ‘sink or swim’ approach.”
Below is an excerpt from a Nov. 1 press release that includes more specific information about the Yale Teaching Fellowship:
• A “new teachers track” that will enable up to 10 college graduates per fellowship year to gain teacher certification in Connecticut and an expedited 12-month Master of Arts in Teaching degree from SCSU in math, science, special education, or another subject area identified as one facing a shortage in a NHPS. Yale will provide full tuition and a living stipend of $46,000.
Cohort members will take courses throughout the year. In the fall, they will spend 20 hours a week in a fellowship mentor’s classroom. In the spring, fellows will have a full-time teacher residency experience in their school.
• A “paraprofessionals and support staff track” that provides a route for a two-year teacher certification in Connecticut and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from SCSU for up to 11 paraprofessionals and student-facing support staff currently working in New Haven Public Schools.
The fellows will continue to work in their current roles during the first year, then work as full-time teachers during the second year. Yale will provide full tuition and a living stipend of $46,000 minus their NHPS salary during their first year of the fellowship.
• A “current teachers track” that offers cross-endorsement in Special Education in Connecticut and a Master of Science degree from SCSU for up to five certified teachers.
The fellows will take courses for two summer terms, one fall term, and one spring term. Yale will provide full tuition.