CTI strengthens teaching and learning in local public schools

About Charlotte Teachers Institute

Through intensive, long-term seminars led by UNC Charlotte and Johnson C. Smith University faculty, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teachers learn new content, work collaboratively with other teachers, and develop new curricula for their students. Teachers serve as leaders in the institute and choose seminar topics they deem most important and engaging for current CMS teachers and their students.

Since 2009, CTI has offered 107 content-rich seminars for 900 CMS teachers who have written 1,185 Curriculum Units and have taught 170,000 students in grades PK through 12.  

In addition to its eight annual seminars, CTI has developed an immersive summer experience called the Summer Research Experience for Teachers (SRET).  Since 2016, CTI has served 61 CMS teachers in grades PK-12 in intensive research projects led by university faculty in the sciences and humanities.  These teacher-research teams have created 35 poster presentations as part of 19 SRET research experiences. 

CTI presents special events open to all teachers including “Evening for Educators” and “Teachers as Scholars” where CTI Fellows share the new curricula they developed in their seminars. CTI also offers community programs open to the public such as the popular “Exploding Canons” cultural collaboration series. In 2013 CTI and its partners were recognized by the Council of Great City Schools with the Shirley S. Schwartz Urban Education Impact Award.

CTI programs are made possible by a joint commitment of resources from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Johnson C. Smith University and UNC Charlotte, and through the generosity of private funding institutions such as North Carolina Humanities, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Duke Energy. The institute is housed at UNC Charlotte within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.