Passage of this legislation would provide a tremendous boost to the Yale National Initiative, which aspires to establish an exemplary Teachers Institute in most states. It is timely: It complements the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act that call for a highly qualified teacher in all core subject classrooms. It provides an innovative way for colleges and universities to help strengthen teaching of subjects in the sciences and the humanities in the nation's schools.
The $ 30 million the legislation would authorize to be expended over 5 years would provide for the establishment of as many as 8 Teachers Institutes each year, so that by the fifth year there would be an exemplary Institute in as many as 40 states. These Institutes would enable state and local education agencies to learn from local experience about this tested approach as they reformulate their policies and practices for teacher professional development.
If you favor this legislation, we urge you to contact your own Senators and Representative by fax or e-mail, asking them to co-sponsor the bill. If you do so, please send a copy to the Initiative.
As background, you may wish to review the recognition the Teachers Institute approach has received over the past 30 years, as well as the earlier efforts that have been made to enact similar legislation.
You can follow the progress of this legislation in Congress by checking for legislative updates on this Web site.
