The Teachers Institute Approach to professional Development

The Yale New Haven Teachers Institute (YNHTI) provides a distinctive, perhaps nearly unique, approach to professional development. It originated in the 1978 as an outreach activity of Yale University to the New Haven Public Schools. For 20 years, it operated almost exclusively in New Haven. In 1998, under the leadership of its founder, James Vivian, YNHTI conducted a National Demonstration Project, and since 2004 has promoted a National Initiative, to spread the Teachers Institute model to other cities, with a focus on school districts with low income demographics. Currently there is a League of Teachers Institutes with Institutes operating in Charlotte, New Castle County, Delaware, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Other locales working towards founding a Teachers Institute include Chicago, Dekalb County GA, Richmond, and the San Francisco area. This article outlines the salient features of the YNHTI.