Prentiss Charney Fellowship Application for 2026

The Zinn Education Project (coordinated by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change) is accepting applications for the Prentiss Charney Teacher Fellowship for 2026–2027. The fellowship is named “Prentiss Charney” for two lifelong education activists who embody the spirit of this endeavor. C. J. Prentiss and Michael Charney were deeply committed to radical education for young people and recognized that creating the conditions for that learning requires creative, grassroots organizing. Through their decades of work in Ohio and nationwide, they modeled the tenacity and strategic brilliance required to be successful against well-funded right-wing institutions. A fellowship generally means receiving a grant to study and learn; but fellowship is also a “friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests.” The Prentiss Charney Fellowship incorporates both meanings of the word by providing a group of working educators an opportunity to study, learn, and create — and find comradeship in a community of radical educators. 2026-2027 Cohort The 2026–2027 Prentiss Charney fellowship is an 18-month-long program, starting in August 2026. The cohort will meet for six Saturday sessions (3 hours each) over the course of the 18-month program. Fellows will meet to elaborate and receive feedback on their projects, and work to field test, publish, and share their work. This will be the third cohort of Prentiss Charney fellows; see the first and second cohorts. The Work The 2026–2027 cohort will focus on writing K–12 curriculum — adding new teaching resources and perspectives to expand the collection at the Zinn Education Project website. Most of our lessons have been written and used for social studies classrooms, but we welcome additions from across subject areas — as well as from different grade levels. What unites all Zinn Education Project curriculum is the conviction that young people should be given opportunities to comment and act upon the world they have inherited. Students are not passive recipients of historical knowledge; like all of us, they are historical actors with the power to read the world and bend its course toward justice. This active, participatory approach to learning is what we call “a people’s pedagogy.” Many types of teaching activities can embody this pedagogy and encourage historical consciousness — of oppression and violence, of justice and care, of the ways the past bears on the present. Our collection of trials, role plays, primary source investigations, discussion questions, and other teaching activities aim to: - Explain complex social phenomena, like white supremacy, settler colonialism, social class division and wealth inequality, and environmental exploitation. - Focus on events, groups, and individuals too often erased, minimized, or oversimplified in corporate curricula, especially movements and individuals who have acted for justice. - Increase students’ capacity to act for justice by: - Growing their imaginative capabilities, the cornerstone of empathy and solidarity. - Exploring how systems affect people’s choices, analysis necessary to solve seemingly intractable problems. - Allowing time and space for participatory, problem-solving pedagogy. - Thwarting cynicism and resignation by emphasizing activism and resistance, and the recognition that at all points in history, there are choices; nothing is inevitable. Each Prentiss Charney Fellow receives: - Public recognition in local and national media and on the Zinn Education Project website and social media. - Structured support throughout the fellowship in the form of cohort convenings, workshops, and individual coaching from the Zinn Education Project team. - Stipend: $3,000 and up to $1,000 worth of resources, such as books, conference registration, travel, etc. After the fellowship, Prentiss Charney Fellows will be invited to engage in a series of follow-up writing workshops with Rethinking Schools to work toward publication of their curricular and/or organizing stories in Rethinking Schools magazine and/or the Zinn Education Project website. How to Apply To apply to be a Prentiss Charney Fellow, complete the application by May 1, 2026. Twitter Google plus LinkedIn