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The Woodrow Wilson
Indiana Teaching Fellowship
Background
In the next five years, Indiana must replace at least one-third of its K-12 teaching force. The state already faces critical shortages of math and science teachers. At the same time, Indiana must raise teacher retention rates, educate children to higher standards, and build a competitive workforce.
The Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship addresses these challenges by attracting exceptionally able college seniors and career changers from across the country and offering a program to prepare them to teach math and science in Indiana public schools. Funded by the Lilly Endowment and supported by the governor and state education leaders, the initiative will provide $30,000 stipends to outstanding college graduates and career changers in science, technology, engineering, and math to complete an intensive master’s program at one of four participating Indiana universities with high-quality teacher preparation programs. In return, Fellows will commit to teaching for three years in a high-need secondary urban or rural school in Indiana. The Fellowship’s benefits include:
Drawing New Talent Into the Teaching Field
The Fellowship will help Indiana attract talented college graduates who often seek jobs in higher-paying math and science careers. It also will encourage accomplished professionals to bring their knowledge and experience to teaching the students who need them most.
Strengthening Math and Science Education
At a time when the state’s economy requires more students to complete postsecondary education, improved teaching will help boost the state’s high school graduation and college attendance and completion rates. Indiana is a life sciences leader, so improving math and science education in secondary schools will better prepare students to participate in Indiana’s economy. Initially the program will prepare 80 Fellows annually—roughly one-quarter of the total number of Indiana secondary teachers now being prepared in those fields—with aspirations to scale up to several hundred per year, creating a critical mass of Fellows statewide in crucial math and science fields.
Improving the Quality of Teacher Preparation
The four Indiana higher education institutions selected to participate in the program—Ball State University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Purdue University, and the University of Indianapolis—have outlined new directions for their teacher preparation programs, including new curricula and outcome measures anchored by supervised clinical experience and ongoing mentoring in schools. These programs will become models for others in the state and the nation.
Keeping High-Quality Teachers in the Field
Nationally, about half of all new teachers leave within their first five years. The Fellowship will help retain high-quality teachers by making sure that their preparation is aligned with the skills teachers need to succeed in high-need schools, including significant teaching experience. Upon receiving their master’s degree, Fellows will be assisted in securing teaching placements in cohorts within districts that have strong leaders, experienced teacher-mentors, and pre-existing relationships with participating teacher education programs. Every Fellow will receive ongoing, intensive mentoring and assessment focused on the first years of teaching, as well as opportunities for continuing education through the university they attended.
Application Process
The Fellowship application will be available online as of July 20, 2009, with a submission deadline of January 12, 2010. The 2010 cohort of Fellows will be selected by early-April 2010.
Contact
Questions that are not answered in the information posted on this site can be directed by email to Dana M. DiLullo at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.