By Sabina Mollot

Rebecca Rufo, a teacher at East Side Middle School has been chosen as a MetLife Fellow in the Teachers Network Leadership Institute (TNLI), an honor given to teachers who show extraordinary leadership skills. This select group of elementary, middle, and high school teachers represents eleven TNLI affiliates nationwide.

As a MetLife fellow, an educator becomes part of the Teachers Network Leadership Institute for the 2005 2006 school year and has an opportunity to influence education policy at local, state and national levels by meeting with policy makers, including City Council members. MetLife fellows receive a stipend of $1,000, participate in online dialogues with other fellows, and conduct action research studies in their classrooms.

This year, over 100 teachers applied for the fellowship and 2.3 were accepted after submitting

applications and being interviewed by the TNLI Rufo, also a part time PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center, applied after finding out about the program from one of her professors, another MetLife Fellow.

Part of the responsibilities of a Fellow include spreading the word to parents about what is being done regarding education funding and encouraging them to be more active in the political process themselves.

"The idea is to get teachers active," said Rufo, "A lot of educational policy is made without contact with actual teachers. This way they can hear directly from the source what schools need."

Rufo, who has already been to one of the first monthly meetings, one focused on the campaign for fiscal equity, said she hopes more teachers get involved with the fellowship program.

"It's great to talk with other teachers who are motivated and focused on teaching," she said.

STUY TOWN RESIDENT
REBECCA RUFO

"Very often, because we're so busy at our own schools, there's very little contact with really good teachers in the system. I'm fortunate that I work with a lot of good teachers, but it's great to see what's going on at other schools."

TNLI works in partnership with New York University Steinhardt School of Education. Major funding for TNLI is provided by MetLife Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.