Education Funding

Philanthropies Launch Teacher-Training Fellowships

By Vaishali Honawar — December 19, 2007 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has announced an ambitious national- and state-level fellowship program to lure college graduates and midcareer professionals to long-term teaching careers in high-need schools.

Creators say the $17 million program, underwritten by the Lilly Endowment, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is intended to raise the profile of teaching as a career and to overhaul teacher education itself in the long run.

“We want to get excellent teachers to high-needs schools in cities and rural areas, we want to attract the best and brightest to teaching and to dignify the profession, we want to retain the top teachers, and we want to transform teacher education,” said Arthur E. Levine, the president of the foundation.

The fellowship is two-pronged. The state-level program will begin in Indiana, with more states, including Ohio, expected to launch similar programs next year. Fellows, to be named in spring 2009, will receive a $30,000 stipend to complete a yearlong master’s program at one of four partner institutions—Ball State University, Purdue University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and the University of Indianapolis. In return, they must commit to teach mathematics and science in the state’s schools for three years.

The national fellowship is described as a “Rhodes scholarship” for teaching. It expects to produce 100 fellows over three years and includes a $30,000 stipend and one year of graduate education at four of the nation’s top programs—Stanford University, the University of Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia. Fellows in the national program will also have to agree to teach for three years in low-income schools.

Curriculum Changes

The attempt to attract the brightest talent to teaching is not new. Teach For America, for instance, has lured fresh college graduates with a two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools. In New York City, a partnership between the school district and two teacher programs offers candidates free tuition and mentoring support if they commit to teach math and science for two years.

But those behind the Woodrow Wilson program see it as having a bigger, national-level impact.

“The program is designed to have incredible leverage,” said Mr. Levine, a former president of Teachers College, Columbia University. Once it takes off, he said he expects many more “very able people” will look toward teaching as a desirable profession, and other colleges of education will set up similar fellowships. He also hopes that once the money from the philanthropies runs out, states would pitch in with funds.

The four Indiana colleges will take on 20 fellows each year and receive an additional $500,000 so they can make such changes as introducing new curriculum and outcome measures. Students will get three years of mentoring as they start teaching. Colleges are to establish residencies in which teachers will spend time on their campuses helping to plan the teacher education programs, while professors will spend time in K-12 classrooms.

Mr. Levine said the foundation zeroed in on Indiana partly because it believed the fellowship would have a bigger effect there. The 80 teachers it would generate annually would make up one-fourth of the new math and science teachers the state produces each year.

Pat Swails, the president of the Indiana chapter of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, called it a “fantastic” idea.

“Our problem is that a lot of the students of math and science go to industry because they have respect there and a competitive salary, none of which is available to teachers of math and science consistently across the state,” she said.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the December 19, 2007 edition of Education Week as Philanthropies Launch Teacher-Training Fellowships

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
(Re)Focus on Dyslexia: Moving Beyond Diagnosis & Toward Transformation
Move beyond dyslexia diagnoses & focus on effective literacy instruction for ALL students. Join us to learn research-based strategies that benefit learners in PreK-8.
Content provided by EPS Learning
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Cohesive Instruction, Connected Schools: Scale Excellence District-Wide with the Right Technology
Ensure all students receive high-quality instruction with a cohesive educational framework. Learn how to empower teachers and leverage technology.
Content provided by Instructure
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
How to Use Data to Combat Bullying and Enhance School Safety
Join our webinar to learn how data can help identify bullying, implement effective interventions, & foster student well-being.
Content provided by Panorama Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Billions of Dollars for School Buildings Are on the Ballot This November
Several large districts and the state of California hope to capitalize on interest in the presidential election to pass big bonds.
6 min read
Pink Piggy Bank with a vote sticker on the back and a blurred Capitol building in the distance.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding Gun Violence Takes a Toll. We Need More Support, Principals Tell Congress
At a congressional roundtable, school leaders made an emotional appeal for more funds to help schools recover from gun violence.
5 min read
Principals from the Principals Recovery Network address lawmakers on the long-term effects of gun violence on Sept. 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Principals address Democratic members of Congress on the long-term effects of gun violence on Sept. 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy of Oversight Committee Democrats Press Office
Education Funding ESSER Is Ending. Which Investments Accomplished the Most?
Districts have until Sept. 30 to commit their last round of federal COVID aid to particular expenses.
11 min read
Illustration of falling or declining money with a frustrated man in a suit standing on the edge of a cliff the shape of an arrow dollar sign.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding Explainer How One Grant Can Help Schools Recover From Shootings
Schools can leverage a little-known emergency grant to recover from violence or a natural disaster. Here’s how.
9 min read
Broken piggy bank with adhesive bandage on the table
iStock/Getty