Yale is helping to launch an innovative, $10 million program that will train and support a wave of highly qualified teachers in New Haven’s public schools.

The university will fully fund graduate study for 104 teachers, who will commit to teaching in the New Haven Public School (NHPS) system for a minimum of three years. The program, called the Yale Teaching Fellowship, will include master’s degree coursework at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and recruitment and professional consultation from the New Haven Promise program.

“Based on years of study, we know that an effective teacher is the most important school-related factor for student success,” said Yale President Maurie McInnis at a launch event Oct. 30 at Wexler-Grant Community School. “Teachers matter most.”

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, SCSU interim President Dwayne Smith, NHPS Superintendent of Schools Madeline Negrón, New Haven Promise President Patricia Melton, and other local education leaders joined McInnis for the announcement.

“Today, we are building on the incredible partnership we are growing with Yale,” said Elicker, who noted that the fellowship is about much more than Yale’s financial support for the city. “We’ve got each other’s backs.”

The fellowship will help address severe staffing shortages in city schools while promoting the long-term retention of highly trained teachers from diverse backgrounds. It will feature separate tracks for new teachers, paraprofessionals already employed in city schools, and current teachers obtaining qualification to teach in special education, also known as a cross-endorsement.

“The quality of the teachers we put in front of kids is central to addressing current and persistent educational opportunity gaps,” said Christine Gentry, program director of the Yale Teaching Fellowship. “That’s the first thing that runs underneath all of this work: the research that’s been done on the importance of quality teachers.”

The fellowship emerged from recommendations of the Yale and Slavery Research Project, an effort undertaken by the university to better understand its formative ties to slavery and the slave trade. That project, convened in 2020, uncovered new information about how Yale and city leaders squashed a proposal to establish the nation’s first college for Black youth in 1831.

Nearly two centuries later, local institutions have come together to bolster educational opportunities in New Haven and help address the local effects of a nationwide teaching crisis.

New Haven’s public schools began the 2024-25 academic year with 77 classroom teacher vacancies, including 42 vacancies in the critical areas of math, science, and special education. Local education officials said the strains put on school systems nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an exodus of teachers — but there were teaching vacancies even before the pandemic.

“This will be a game changer,” said Edith Johnson, director of professional learning and leadership development for NHPS. “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.”

Applications are being taken now for the first cohort of the Yale Teaching Fellowship, which begins in May 2025. The application deadline is Jan. 1, 2025.

Overall, the program will have three fellowship tracks:

• 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.

“This will certainly be a model for other cities across the nation to follow,” said SCSU President Smith.

New Haven Promise, a Yale-funded college scholarship and career development program that supports New Haven public school students, will be involved in recruiting teachers in all three tracks and lending professional advice.

“Yale has made a commitment to the local educational landscape for many years,” said Melton, the New Haven Promise president. “But these are new times, with new challenges, and this teaching fellowship makes so much sense.”

Several officials noted that Yale’s funding commitment to the teaching fellowship adds a crucial dimension to the program.

“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 said.

“I can’t thank Yale enough for prioritizing this investment,” said Negrón. “In New Haven, we know the power of partnership.”