Teachers' Institute, in the United States, an assemblage of the teachers of the public schools of a county or part of a county for the purpose of receiving instruction in the art and methods of teaching, by lectures, conferences, class drills, etc, from experienced teachers. An institute is usually held in each county under the supervision of the county superintendent of schools once a year, sometimes oftener, the sessions lasting from one to two weeks. The instruction is free. This plan was first adopted by Henry Barnard, state superintendent of schools in Connecticut, in 1839. Institutes have been held in New York since 1843, and have been maintained by state appropriations since 1847. They were begun in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1845, and soon afterward in many other states. In most of the states they are required by law to be held, and in several the attendance of teachers is obligatory. In some states provision is made for their maintenance by public funds. The instruction in these temporary training schools is necessarily almost wholly oral, and is confined to an explanation and illustration of the best methods of teaching and governing schools. • Conferences are held, in which the teachers relate their own experience of particular methods of instruction and discipline.