What is the Houston Teachers Institute?

The Houston Teachers Institute is a professional development program committed to increasing subject matter skills for Houston public school teachers. The Institute was established in 1998 and is sponsored by the University of Houston and the Houston Independent School District. HTI is also a member of the League of Teachers Institutes and a partner with the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute in the Yale National Initiative.

HISD teachers become Fellows in the Institute and work with University of Houston professors to study a topic of mutual interest. Each Teacher-Fellow then writes a 15-20 page curriculum unit designed for the students that he or she teaches, using his or her own experience and particular academic interests to develop original grade-appropriate teaching materials.

Since 1999, HTI has offered 78 seminars to more than 800 teachers from 145 schools in HISD. Curriculum units written by the Fellows have explored such varied topics as cell biology, physics, Pre-Columbian art, Shakespeare and film, the history of Africa, the United States presidency, mythology, and ecology.

Benefits for your school:

This is an outstanding opportunity to revitalize your school's curricula by having your teachers participate in academic research. Because HISD teachers and curriculum managers select the subjects of the seminars, which change every year, HTI seminars always address the ever-changing academic needs of individual schools in the district. Because the teachers are allowed to direct their own research, they are able to create lesson plans that actively engage students in your school, targeting the particular needs of the students they see in your classrooms every day.

In addition to being based on the latest academic information and maintaining a high level of rigor, lesson plans are aligned with objectives of the curriculum, TAKS, and Project CLEAR. Many curriculum units are interdisciplinary and most can be adapted for use by special populations in your school, such as LEP, ESL, G/T, and students with special needs. The plans are easily aligned with other coursework and fit in both horizontally and vertically with HISD curricula. Teachers completing the program receive 32 hours of Gifted and Talented credit and help each school in its efforts to provide quality programs for the academically gifted and college-bound.

The completed curriculum units in each seminar are published in a volume in which the teacher is clearly identified as a member of the faculty of your school. Each participating school receives bound copies of all the curriculum units published that year. Teachers who participate in HTI can provide in-service for other teachers in their area or in their school's feeder pattern on how to implement the curriculum units.

HTI is also a great value for your school. Teachers attend HTI seminars in the evening, so there is no need for the school to hire substitutes, and therefore the continuity of instruction is not interrupted. The school must pay $1800 for each participant. Fees for HTI can be paid for with funds from Title I, Title II, and Title III.

Benefits for teachers:

HTI provides an excellent professional development opportunity for teachers of all subjects and grade levels. Not only do teachers work with colleagues from across the district, getting a unique opportunity to share the ideas that contribute to effective instruction, but they also receive extensive and intensive guidance from University of Houston professors on academic subjects taught in HISD schools. In addition, the university professors aid teachers in the completion of the ultimate goal of these seminars, a 15-20 page curriculum unit comprised of a research paper, bibliography, and accompanying lesson plans. The professors provide suggestions for further research and offer positive feedback and constructive criticism while the units are being completed.

The HTI experience contributes to higher morale for participating teachers. Although the work is challenging, teachers are rejuvenated by their success in completing rigorous academic research in a field of their choice. Consequently, the district retains a high percentage of HTI participants. Retention statistics show that after 3 years, 79% of HTI teachers are still employed in HISD.

Participants in HTI become members of the University of Houston community and have access to all university facilities, including borrowing privileges from all libraries and access to computer facilities. Teachers who complete all requirements receive a $1000 stipend.

When do seminars meet and who is eligible to participate?

The seminars will be offered over the course of fourteen weeks in the spring, beginning with our Convocation on Tuesday, January 20, and ending on Tuesday, April 28. Each seminar meets once a week on either Monday or Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 at the University of Houston.

Any full-time HISD teacher who plans to teach in HISD the year following the seminar is eligible to apply. Teachers must enroll in seminars that are relevant to the subjects they teach so that they may use their published curriculum units in their own classrooms.