PROGRAM OVERVIEW

What if, this summer, you could hone your teaching skills, become a more confident educator, build a network of amazing colleagues from around the world, and return to your school with fresh eyes and new energy?

The Klingenstein Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers (KSI) is a highly-selective, fully-funded fellowship that provides an intensive, graduate-level professional learning experience for teachers with 1-5 years of full-time teaching experience. Participants in this prestigious program explore curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment design in their teaching discipline, informed by current research and practice in three key areas: mind brain education; equity, inclusion, and belonging; and, social-emotional learning - all to better understand and design for how students learn, grow, and thrive.

CORE CURRICULUM

You'll engage in seminars facilitated by experts on essential topics, such as developing your teaching philosophy, the impact of AI, and cognitive science. You'll work fellow teachers from your academic discipline to examine subject-specific teaching practice and to develop curriculum and tools that you can use immediately.  Curriculum groups include Elementary Education, English, History, Modern and Classical Languages, Math, Science, and Experiential Education.

The curriculum of the summer institute is guided by the KSI Competencies, a set of skills and habits that describe what early-career educators need to know and do in order to set themselves and their students up for success. Through out KSI, you'll work to build your capacities the 4 major areas below. Expand each competency to see examples of specific learning outcomes that will enhancing your teaching and leadership practice.

CREDIT AND CREDENCE

If accepted, you will receive a fully-funded fellowship for the program, which covers all tuition, fees, housing and meals during the program. Upon successful completion of the academic program, you'll earn four graduate-level credits from Teachers College, Columbia University which may be applied to future study, including the Klingenstein Center's Masters Degree Programs in Independent School Leadership. Most essentially, you'll finish the program affirmed, inspired, and equipped to continue to improve as a teacher and advocate for your students.

CONNECTION AND FELLOWSHIP

KSI is intensive residential professional learning program held at The Chauncey Center in Princeton, NJ. Outside of class, you will enjoy delicious meals and relaxing surroundings. Visit the gym or pool, meet up with your study group on the terrace, or visit downtown Princeton with a classmate. When you depart at the end of the program, you'll be a part of a global network of educators who will be a part of your professional learning network for years to come.

Testimonials

Klingenstein Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers Brochure

Admissions

Your KSI experience begins with your application via the Teachers College Office of Admissions. Applications are open for KSI 2025. Read the FAQ for details and begin your application:

Start Application

Application Deadline

The deadline each year is February 1.

Program Brochure

Summer Institute Team

FAQs

"I returned from KSI with a strong understanding of how to establish a collegial and collaborative teacher learning community. As an early-career teacher, I became hyper-aware of the importance of bringing intentionality to all that I am and all that I do. KSI was the most profound professional development opportunity I’ve ever experienced!"
Rakiya Brown
|
KSI '17, Director of Enrollment Management, Hillbrook School, CA
"Learning together with a group of dedicated teachers was incredibly valuable to me. We shared experiences and grappled with our teaching philosophies. We investigated dilemmas and explored solutions. I was thrilled to be surrounded by a group of resilient and passionate educators who continued to challenge and modify their teaching practices. Klingenstein was only the beginning of my journey and I believe I can always be a better teacher than before."
Jackson Kuong
|
KSI '16, Math Teacher, Woodland School, CA
"The Klingenstein Summer Institute has been the most influential professional opportunity in my career so far. The curriculum and the teachers helped me refine my teaching philosophy in a way that is relevant and centered on my students’ growth. I have continued as a teacher in my career because of the examples of expert educators at the institute, and the community of talented teachers who were members of my cohort. I continue to build on the skills and understanding of education that I developed at KSI to find effective ways to improve my practice."
Anisha Vinod
|
KSI '16, LA '19, Middle School Teacher, Taipei American School, Taipei, Taiwan
"I don’t think I’m understating it when I say that KSI was the pivotal experience of my teaching career. Prior to that program, I had thought of myself as 'someone who happened to be teaching,' but in the months and years that followed, I increasing came to see myself as a teacher. I attribute much of this shift to the ways in which KSI exposed me to the language of teaching and learning, which enabled me to conceptualize and embrace that facet of my identity, in turn making visible new possibilities with respect to my work as an educator. One of those possibilities was returning to the Full-Year Master's Degree Program at Klingenstein to continue this work."
Kurt Prescott
|
KSI '17, PSL '21, Humanities Teacher, Maret School, Washington, DC