Inaugural Class of

Inaugural Class of Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows Develops Pipeline of STEM Teachers

Next fall, some of Georgia’s most underserved public schools will employ 36 new, highly trained STEM teachers. The teachers comprise Georgia’s inaugural class of Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation fellows who were named in June.

The highly competitive program recruits both recent graduates and career changers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math — STEM fields — and prepares them specifically to teach in high-need secondary schools.

The 36 Georgia fellows will be paid $30,000 each to earn a teaching degree at one of three Georgia colleges: Kennesaw State University, Columbus State University or Piedmont College. Georgia State University and Mercer University will join the program next year, and the number of fellows will increase to 60 students per year for the next four years. The program is part of the University System of Georgia’s goal to prepare 20,000 new teachers by 2020.

While earning their master’s degrees, fellows will receive hands-on experience in their selected schools and will have a mentor who teaches a STEM subject. In return, fellows will commit to teach for three years in the urban and rural Georgia schools that most need strong STEM teachers. Throughout the threeyear commitment, fellows receive ongoing support and mentoring.

Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education spearheaded the effort to bring the Princeton, New Jersey-based fellowship program to Georgia. The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation has provided $9.36 million in funding. Georgia joins Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio as Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship states. The Georgia program brings the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s total commitment to the fellowship to nearly $90 million.

CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE EMPHASIZED

The universities, in exchange for receiving exceptional teacher candidates and a matching grant, agree to rethink their teacher preparation programs, emphasizing classroom experience early on. The foundation emphasizes closer integration between the education colleges and colleges of arts and sciences, direct oversight of the education programs by university provosts, greater collaboration between education colleges and primary and secondary schools, more experience in schools for graduate students, and three years of mentoring after the graduates start teaching.

The participating universities, selected in a statewide review by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, have spent the past year and a half tailoring their teacher preparation programs to meet the fellowship’s standards for intensive clinical work and rigorous related coursework.

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation is also partnering with a wide range of school districts across the state, including Atlanta Public Schools, Banks County School System, Bibb County School District, Chattahoochee County School District, Clarke County School District, Cobb County School District, Dodge County Schools, Franklin County Schools, Fulton County Schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Habersham County Schools, Hall County Schools, Houston County Schools, Marietta City Schools, Marion County School System, Monroe County Schools, Muscogee County Schools, Paulding County School District, Stephens County School System, Union County Schools, Walton County Public Schools and White County School District.

“The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship will not only help improve the teacher training programs at five universities in partnership with several of their local school systems, but also produce more STEM teachers for our state,” states Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education President Steve Dolinger. n – Meg Thornton, PAGE Publications Manager

Front row, (l-r): Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education President Steve Dolinger, Woodrow Wilson Foundation President Arthur Levine and Gov. Nathan Deal formally welcomed the first Woodrow Wilson Georgia Fellowship Program class at the Georgia Capitol this summer.