In the words
of a Fellow... " Social justice is very important to me. As a
teacher, it is my job to give my students the best education I possibly
can." -Julie, 2003 Fellow
In the spring of 2000, the
NYC Teaching Fellows program was launched to address the most severe teacher
shortage in New York’s public school system in decades. The Fellowship endeavors
to attract mid-career professionals, recent college graduates, and even retirees
to teach in the hardest-to-staff schools in the nation’s largest school
system.
In its first year, NYCTF drew
2,100 applications for 325 available positions.Among that first group of Fellows were a
Viacom vice-president, one of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speechwriters, a “Dateline
NBC” producer, and a technology executive from Chicago with both a JD and an
MBA.The quality of the applicant
pool was so exceptional that the program has been expanded to 2,000 Fellows a
year.
Since 2000, the Teaching Fellows
program has not only addressed New York’s chronic teacher shortage, it has been
able to focus on recruiting people specifically to teach high-need subject
areas—such as
science, math, Spanish, special education, and bilingual education—and consistently
trains large numbers of teachers to work in the hardest-to-staff
schools across the city.
Today, the NYC Teaching Fellows
is the largest local alternative certification program in the country and has
been nationally recognized as an exemplary model of teacher recruitment and
training. The key elements of the Fellowship include an intensive pre-service
training program with a living stipend, a subsidized Master's in Education, and
ongoing support. The program is highly selective: only one in twenty
applicants ultimately becomes a Teaching Fellow.
Over
8,800 Fellows are currently teaching in New York City’s public
schools.
Fellows
comprise 11% of all teachers in the New York City public school
system.
Approximately
nine percent of applicants to the June 2008 program were admitted.
92% of all Fellows who begin teaching complete the first year, 73% of
Fellows will teach at least three years, and half will teach at least five
years.
In the ninth
year of the program, the Fellows from all cohorts now comprise:
11% of all New York City teachers
26% of all math teachers
22% of all special education
18% of all science teachers
17% of all teachers in the Bronx
108 Fellows have filled positions as principals, assistant
principals, or education administrators
The success of the NYC Teaching Fellows
program has been heralded across the country through features in national media
outlets such as The New York Times, The
Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Education Week, CNN, “World News
Tonight” on ABC, “Good Morning America,” the "TODAY Show," and PBS’s “The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” In his July 2003 report to Congress, Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers
Challenge: The Secretary's Second Annual Report on Teacher Quality, former
Education Secretary Rod Paige specifically cited the NYC Teaching Fellows
program as one of the most promising models for alternative certification
nationwide. Now in its ninth year, the NYC Teaching Fellows program
continues to exceed all expectations.