The Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowships

About the Fellowships

• The goals of the Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowships are to:
  • attract the very best candidates to teaching;
  • put strong teachers into high-need schools;
  • cut teacher attrition and retain top teachers; and
  • transform university-based teacher education
• The Fellowships recruit teachers—both recent college graduates and career changers—with strong backgrounds in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
• Each WW Ohio Teaching Fellow receives a $30,000 Fellowship to complete a specially designed, cutting-edge master’s degree program, as preparation to teach in high-need urban or rural secondary schools.
• Fellows commit to teach for three years, with ongoing mentoring.
• Universities agree to redesign their teacher education programs.
• Ohio launched its Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships in 2010. Funding comes from Choose Ohio First, Race to the Top, and a consortium of private funders.
• This year’s group is the inaugural class (or cohort) of Fellows in Ohio.

About the Application and Selection Process

• For the 2011 Fellowship competition, more than 48,000 inquiries were received, generating a total of more than 1,500 applications.
• Selection included screening at the Foundation, a full-day interview process driven by a team of veteran STEM teachers based in Ohio, and a careful admissions review by the partner universities.

About the 2011 Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows

• There are 65 Fellows in the 2011 cohort of WW Ohio Teaching Fellows. They will be attending John Carroll University, The University of Akron, and the University of Cincinnati.
• The partner universities will be preparing Fellows in classrooms in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Cincinnati.
• Of these new Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows:
  • 98% majored in a STEM discipline: 54% in the sciences, 23% in mathematics, and 21% in engineering and technology.
  • Nearly one in four (24%) hold advanced degrees.
  • The majority of Fellows are dean’s list/honors graduates; 39% had a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
  • More than two-thirds are either changing established careers or seeking new career paths:
    • 32% completed the undergraduate degree more than five years ago;
    • 37% are 30 years of age or over, and 15% are 50 or over.
    • Another 36% are recent college graduates (five years or less) who are changing direction.
    • 32% will graduate from their undergraduate institution this spring.
    • 61% are female, and 19% identify themselves as members of minority groups.

  Source:  The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation