As part of our Future of Mentoring series, last week’s webinar featured national experts on Grow Your Own teacher prep programs. An increasingly popular approach to address teacher shortages and boost retention, GYO programs create pathways for community members to become teachers in the schools and neighborhoods they already know and care deeply about. But success is only guaranteed if these beginning teachers receive the support they need to stay, grow, lead.

Our wide-ranging conversation covered the benefits of GYO, the elements of well-designed programs, and the unique needs of aspiring teachers coming through GYO pathways. We also talked about how effective mentorship anchors GYO candidates through all phases of their journey, helping them build pedagogical knowledge and confidence as they work to become not just certified but truly ready and resilient educators. Our discussion of what’s ideal and what’s real was a good starting place for articulating what districts and schools, educator prep providers, and other local partners can do to prioritize quality mentoring and maximize the success of this powerful community-based strategy for teacher recruitment, retention, and improved student learning.

Speakers:

• Amaya Garcia, New America, Director of PreK–12 Research and Practice
• Jason Greenberg Motamedi, Education Northwest, Managing Researcher
• Amy Feehan, Senior Director of Program and Partnerships at New Teacher Center

Highlights and takeaways:

The promise of GYO programs
With the ongoing challenge of teacher shortages and teacher turnover, Grow Your Own programs provide an “inside-out” solution to sourcing quality teacher candidates. While GYO programs come in a variety of flavors, they are all designed to tap and support local talent to build a strong teacher pipeline rooted in the community served by schools. Specifically, GYOs can be a highly effective strategy for:

• growing a more stable, diverse, and local teacher workforce
• increasing student access to teachers who know and reflect their communities
• strengthening the connection between schools and the neighborhoods they serve
• providing economic mobility and professional pathways for individuals who are often excluded from the teaching profession

Characteristics of well-designed GYO programs (from existing research)

• Strong partnerships between school districts, educator preparation providers, and community organizations
  community-based recruiting at the heart and soul of these programs, staffing schools with teachers who reflect the local community and ultimately increase  representation of multiple backgrounds and life experiences in the teacher workforce
• Wraparound supports provided throughout the recruitment, preparation, and induction years (e.g., cohort structure, scholarships, licensure test preparation, etc.)
• Paid work experience under the guidance of an effective mentor teacher that aligns with educator preparation coursework
• Structured pathways for teacher candidates to earn required credentials and certification

Read New America’s GYO research agenda.

Why GYO makes sense

• It’s local. We know from national research that teachers are more likely to seek out and remain committed to employment close to or in places similar to where they grew up. This is especially true in rural areas.
• Local teachers may also have the skills, experiences, and relevant characteristics that reflect the local student body and be more readily able to recognize and harness students’ assets for learning.

Who are GYO candidates?
While data on GYO participants is largely anecdotal to date, typical candidates (those not recruited in high school-based programs) are often nontraditional students many or most of whom:

• are working adults, usually older and more experienced, who do not yet have and or have faced barriers to completing a college degree. While some have worked in schools and as paraeducators, most have not been in learner roles in a traditional academic setting for a while
• have families and may be the only wage earner in their family; many have children, elders, or other dependents
• bring important assets to the table in terms of language, experience, and community knowledge, which can be harnessed to make them especially effective and valued teachers

Mentoring in GYO programs

• GYO programs are high-intensity experiences that embed on-the-job learning with coursework typically on a 1-2 year timeline. Most GYO participants have multiple mentors and/or layered mentorship that provides guidance and support throughout their journey starting during the recruitment phase.
  • “Navigator mentors” serve in advocacy roles and work with candidates to meet the admission requirements for the partner IHE and help determine how to award credit for prior learning. University mentors or navigators are important for explaining expectations and designing individualized tracks for each participant.
  • Depending on the program model, some GYO candidates will also have school-based teacher mentors who offer student teaching supervision and support, model best practices and use of the curriculum in the classroom, and provide instructional guidance and support in building relationships with students and families.
  • Some programs facilitate peer-to-peer mentoring, allowing a cohort of candidates to build collaborative relationships, sharing their experiences and offering solutions and strategies.
• GYO mentorship will need to look different and be tailored to specific candidates’ needs. For example, an experienced paraeducator may already have built strong relationships with students and families but require more support with instructional best practices and strategies for classroom management. These candidates, because of their prior experience, can often demonstrate higher confidence and skills than a typical first-year teacher. Other school staff or community candidates shifting from informal or non-instructional roles might have a different set of needs.
• With primary focus on recruitment and preparation, our panelists agreed that the first early induction years are where gaps in GYO teacher support tend to be. Structures to support consistent and ongoing GYO mentoring is needed.
• The takeaway? Mentoring that provides personalized, holistic, continuous support from recruitment through induction is key.

Ideally, quality GYO mentoring would ensure…

• Mentor teachers are selected based on experience and effectiveness in the classroom and with training and skill in supporting teachers in training.
• Mentor matching with attention to shared linguistic, cultural, and other characteristics.
• The mentor teacher is compensated and has access to professional learning to aligned to teacher mentor competencies developed by the school district (or state).
• The GYO mentee benefits from a gradual release model that allows them to take on additional new tasks as they gain skills and competencies. Their knowledge and assets are recognized by their mentor teacher who draws on these to support their development.
• Co-learning opportunities are provided for mentors and mentees.
• University supervisors collaborate with the classroom mentors to provide comprehensive and aligned mentorship support to the candidate.

… vs the reality

• Multiple mentors (for example, university supervisors and cooperating/clinical teachers) who don’t speak to one another, or know what is happening with GYO candidates.
  • Cooperating teachers don’t know what coursework candidates are taking or how = courses connect with their classroom experiences.
  • University supervisors don’t typically know or see much of what is happening to classrooms.
  • There are few opportunities for different mentors to talk openly about their candidates.
  • Even when there is time and opportunity, there may be bureaucratic barriers to honest conversations about the support that candidates may need to succeed.
• Educator preparation programs and districts do not always see eye to eye, and often do not speak to one another, leaving candidates isolated.
• We know it takes a while to develop a trusting relationship, and changing mentors mid-year or mid-program is an issue for many candidates, GYO or traditional.
• Finding mentors who share the same experiences and assets as candidates is really important and often difficult.
• GYO teachers often get pulled into becoming teachers of record (on emergency license) and the shift in role can limit access to mentoring, especially in districts that don’t offer early career induction.

What can schools and districts do to ensure GYO candidate success?

• For GYO mentoring to be effective, schools and districts need strong leadership to ensure that necessary resources (time, money, scheduling, partnerships) are “baked into” the operating procedures of the school.
• The person who provides that “shoulder tap” to a GYO candidate needs to intentionally guide their transition from student or community member or para to teacher of record in cooperation with other mentors.
• Evaluation needs to be built into program design, including regular and ongoing checks with candidates and mentors, not just at watershed points, and using qualitative and quantitative data to change and adapt the program and supports.
• Design programs based on mentoring competencies, such as:
  • Using data to help teacher candidates examine and improve their instructional practices
  • Using mentoring and collaboration time effectively, implementing procedures and routines that support teacher candidate learning
  • Advocating on behalf of teacher candidates within the school and larger community if they are facing challenges in the workplace
• Build sustainable funding models and integrate GYO candidates support into whole school teacher development plans for continuous and ongoing professional learning
• Engage community-based organizations or regional educational agencies to serve as bridges between districts and educator prep programs where appropriate/necessary.

Resources:

• Grow Your Own Teachers: A 50-State Scan of Programs and Policies (New America)
• Teacher Talent Untapped: Multilingual Paraprofessionals Speak About Barriers to Entering the Profession (New America)
• Mentoring: A Key Tool for Success in Grow Your Own Educator Programs (GYO Toolkit, New America)
• Socioculturally Mediated Academic Advising: A GYO Approach for Supporting Bilingual/Bicultural Paraprofessionals
• Research Agenda: Grow Your Own Teachers Brief (New America)
• Grow Your Own Educators: A Toolkit for Program Design and Development (New America)