High school teachers come to Stanford for professional development

A new group of 107 teachers have been named 2015 Stanford Hollyhock teaching fellows.

These high school teachers, representing 34 districts in 17 states and the District of Columbia, will come to Stanford this summer for the beginning of a selective two-year professional development program.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with this second cohort of teachers who are dedicated to teaching underserved populations,” said JANET CARLSON, director of the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching, which runs the program.

Established in 2014, the Stanford Hollyhock Fellowship for Teachers supports early-career high school teachers from high schools that serve a predominantly low-income student population. The fellowship is for two years with an intensive institute on campus during two consecutive summer sessions and year-round video-based coaching.

Funded through a $4.5 million gift from an anonymous donor, Hollyhock is a competitive program that selects candidates from across the country with two to seven years of high school teaching experience in science, mathematics, history or English, with a record of exemplary teaching and a commitment to professional growth.

The program is free for participants and includes a $2,000 stipend for participation over two school years, all expenses paid for the summer experiences, continuing education credits and a certificate of teacher leadership for completion of the program. Each fellow applied to the program with colleagues from his or her own school to ensure school support and commitment.

The teachers selected this year come from public and charter schools nationwide. On average, the teachers have four years of teaching experience; 60 percent have earned master’s degrees; and 43 percent of them are first-generation college graduates. The schools they teach in are low-resource areas, and 80 percent of the students they teach qualify for free or reduced lunch rates.

Committed to teaching

Research shows that teacher turnover is high in low-income schools. As a result, the least experienced educators are teaching students in the schools with the greatest need.

“The Hollyhock Fellowship Program addresses these complicated educational realities by encouraging early-career high school teachers to persist in the profession and consider staying in schools that serve low-income student populations,” said MELISSA SCHEVE, Hollyhock project director. “Teachers who remain and thrive in the classroom can create maximum learning benefits for all students.”

During their time on campus, the fellows engage in four programmatic strands of professional development: deepening content, facilitating discussion, leading for equity, and building community. The four content breakout sessions – English, history, math and science – focus on deepening the fellows’ content knowledge as well as how to teach that content so students learn it.

Stanford professors from the GSE and departments university-wide will participate in the program. To learn more about the fellows and their schools, click here.