GYOC Presenting
NAAC Pre-Conference, Seattle
April 14, 2020
The Grow Your Own Collective (GYOC) was created as a way to provide national models for recruiting, preparing, placing, and retaining diverse culturally responsive, community grounded teachers of color. The Collective also supports programs because we know that community-based efforts committed to recruiting, preparing, and retaining teachers of color are successful. See GYO Hawaii information. If you are interested in learning more about the GYOC and resources available to assist your community, or if you already have a GYO program in place and want additional resources, please join us at the NAAC pre-conference. You’ll learn about the ins and outs of developing a GYO program from scratch and hear from representatives sharing best practices from every phase of the GYO continuum, along with lessons learned and specific ways to move the work forward. The full-day pre-conference will offer hands' on learning and activities geared to your specific program goals. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn from your peers and share best practices to enhance your alternative certification program! Wednesday, April 14, 2020, 9:00AM-5:00PM $125 includes materials, lunch and breaks. Register on the main NAAC conference registration page. 2020 Conference
March 27, 2019 Join GYO Collective during the pre-conference session of the NAAC 29th Annual Conference
Action through Advocacy: Addressing Teacher Shortages and Diversity through Alternate Routes March 27-30, 2019, Washington, DC, Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Visit the site to register: https://www.alternativecertification.org/annual-conference/
Conference Materials:
Action through Advocacy: Addressing Teacher Shortages and Diversity through Alternate Routes March 27-30, 2019, Washington, DC, Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Visit the site to register: https://www.alternativecertification.org/annual-conference/
Conference Materials:
GYOC Chicago IL Site Visit, Submitted by Victoria Moreland
November 8-10, 2018, GYOC members visited Grow Your Own Illinois program. The program works with candidates to create a pathway plan specifically for them. Currently there are 30 individuals in the cohort. The goals of the program are : 1) Create a pipeline of highly qualified teachers of color; 2) Improve teacher retention in low-income schools; 3) Recruit for hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-fill positions; and 4) Increase cultural competence and community connections of teachers.
They have had over 120 people participate in the program since its launch in 2004. Individuals receive $25,000 for the entire program for tuition assistance to complete their degree. All have access to unlimited free tutoring, as long as they show they are making progress. Their high completion/graduation rate can be said to be due to the support provided based upon the individuals's needs. The needs of individuals can include: assistance with debt in order to have access to transcripts before they can apply to a program; pre-test support; housing assistance; books; childcare assistance; and emergency assistance. Cohort meetings, that include Professional Development, are available for pre-GYO and current GYO participants.
The lifelong Professional Development is offered during their regularly scheduled cohort meetings. During the GYOC site visits, we sat in on a cohort session regrading Effective Classroom management: Building a Foundation for Learning. Other training provided and scheduled throughout 2018 and projected for 2019 focused on: Self Care, Trauma Informed Practice, Immigration Training, State Budget Review, Gender Inclusion in Schools, Parent Engagement, Building for the whole: the difference GYO can make…, Race Identity and Systems of Oppression, Mastering the EdTPA, Recognizing Microaggressions and Learning How to Address Them, and The classroom as engaged participatory space for teaching.
GYO Illinois does not have problems finding placements for their graduates. Principals and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) contact the GYO program looking for individuals to hire. Participants select the university they wish to attend. Some of the partnering Universities include: North Eastern, and Chicago State. We had the opportunity to visit Stowe Elementary to observe a GYO IL graduate in her math class and hear from principal Dr. Lugo's about how wonderful the program is and how he has had 6-7 of the GYO IL candidates.
GYO Illinois is currently working on trying to gather data on over 50 previous graduate students and identify where they are now. For more information visit GYO Illinois site: http://www.growyourownteachers.org/
November 8-10, 2018, GYOC members visited Grow Your Own Illinois program. The program works with candidates to create a pathway plan specifically for them. Currently there are 30 individuals in the cohort. The goals of the program are : 1) Create a pipeline of highly qualified teachers of color; 2) Improve teacher retention in low-income schools; 3) Recruit for hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-fill positions; and 4) Increase cultural competence and community connections of teachers.
They have had over 120 people participate in the program since its launch in 2004. Individuals receive $25,000 for the entire program for tuition assistance to complete their degree. All have access to unlimited free tutoring, as long as they show they are making progress. Their high completion/graduation rate can be said to be due to the support provided based upon the individuals's needs. The needs of individuals can include: assistance with debt in order to have access to transcripts before they can apply to a program; pre-test support; housing assistance; books; childcare assistance; and emergency assistance. Cohort meetings, that include Professional Development, are available for pre-GYO and current GYO participants.
The lifelong Professional Development is offered during their regularly scheduled cohort meetings. During the GYOC site visits, we sat in on a cohort session regrading Effective Classroom management: Building a Foundation for Learning. Other training provided and scheduled throughout 2018 and projected for 2019 focused on: Self Care, Trauma Informed Practice, Immigration Training, State Budget Review, Gender Inclusion in Schools, Parent Engagement, Building for the whole: the difference GYO can make…, Race Identity and Systems of Oppression, Mastering the EdTPA, Recognizing Microaggressions and Learning How to Address Them, and The classroom as engaged participatory space for teaching.
GYO Illinois does not have problems finding placements for their graduates. Principals and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) contact the GYO program looking for individuals to hire. Participants select the university they wish to attend. Some of the partnering Universities include: North Eastern, and Chicago State. We had the opportunity to visit Stowe Elementary to observe a GYO IL graduate in her math class and hear from principal Dr. Lugo's about how wonderful the program is and how he has had 6-7 of the GYO IL candidates.
GYO Illinois is currently working on trying to gather data on over 50 previous graduate students and identify where they are now. For more information visit GYO Illinois site: http://www.growyourownteachers.org/
AACTE Blog Submitted by Dr. Rachelle Rogers Ard, February 28, 2018
Wednesday, February 28, 2018, GYOC members participated in the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education Diversifying the Teaching Workforce conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Members in attendance included Dyan Smiley, Dr. Delisa Saunders, Darien Dabner, Dr. Margarita Bianco, Dr. Kanoe Naone and Dr. Rachelle Rogers-Ard.
Delisa moderated a session entitled, “Creating and Organizing Teacher Diversity Initiatives”, while Margarita, Kanoe & I created a panel to introduce GYOC entitled, “Growing Community Educators: A Critical Race Movement to Transform Education”.
All of the sessions were informative and interesting, although Kanoe did receive feedback that our session was the best one of the participants had attended! During our session, Margarita took time to remind us that GYOC is seeking educators who are liberators; Kanoe linked this work to Critical Race Theory and reminded us that teacher testing is based in systemic oppression.
I took another approach; given that 90% of the room were higher ed professors and administrators, I drove home our definition of GYO programs, which includes placing and retaining teachers in the classroom. I likened the University approach to baking a cake: no matter how great the ingredients are, no matter what kind of mixer is used, if I place the cake in the over and walk away, my job is only half done. Not unlike dropping off teachers at the district door, it is imperative that Universities and districts/charter schools work together to retain teachers of color. We need to follow our educators through the entire process, creating cohorts of teachers that are placed together, developing opportunities for those teachers to meet and share the systemic oppression and racism they see each day, while also providing needed professional development.
It was good to share GYOC with the larger University world. We look forward to many, many new opportunities to promote this work in the upcoming months.
Rachelle Rogers Ard
February 2018 Blog submitted by Victoria Moreland
February 6-9, 2018, the Grow Your Own Collective (GYOC) members were invited guest of the Washington state Professional Educator Standards Board, to learn more about WA Grow Your Own (GYO) educator efforts.
PESB, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, held their second partnership Diversifying the Educator Workforce (DEW) event, February 7, 2018. Over 150 people came together to hear about PESB and WA state stakeholder efforts, as they shared strategies to increase underrepresented candidates in the educator workforce and growing the next generation of future educators, with the focus on high school students.
The keynote speaker, Alejandro Castro-Wilson, told his pathway story to become a fifth grade teacher. He was one of the original high school students completing the Recruiting Washington Teacher (RWT) program, in Renton School District. Other presenters and panelists provided insight, as well as actionable and practical tools that can be utilized to support the efforts to diversify the educator workforce. Attendees were provided an overview of the curriculum developed for high students considering a career in education. Most of the breakout sessions included educator preparation programs and districts co-presenting on how to establish and build sustainable GYO programs for staff, community and high school students. For more information about the visit, view the PESB ppt presentation.
February 6-9, 2018, the Grow Your Own Collective (GYOC) members were invited guest of the Washington state Professional Educator Standards Board, to learn more about WA Grow Your Own (GYO) educator efforts.
PESB, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, held their second partnership Diversifying the Educator Workforce (DEW) event, February 7, 2018. Over 150 people came together to hear about PESB and WA state stakeholder efforts, as they shared strategies to increase underrepresented candidates in the educator workforce and growing the next generation of future educators, with the focus on high school students.
The keynote speaker, Alejandro Castro-Wilson, told his pathway story to become a fifth grade teacher. He was one of the original high school students completing the Recruiting Washington Teacher (RWT) program, in Renton School District. Other presenters and panelists provided insight, as well as actionable and practical tools that can be utilized to support the efforts to diversify the educator workforce. Attendees were provided an overview of the curriculum developed for high students considering a career in education. Most of the breakout sessions included educator preparation programs and districts co-presenting on how to establish and build sustainable GYO programs for staff, community and high school students. For more information about the visit, view the PESB ppt presentation.
August , 2017
The GYOC visited Hawai‘i’s GYO program, Kulia & Ka Lama Education Academy (KKLEA), run by the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE) located in the Native Hawaiian community of Wai‘anae on the island of O‘ahu. Wai‘anae is home to the largest Native Hawaiian population in the world where the indigenous culture is a key asset in this community. INPEACE build’s upon this cultural asset to overcome racist institutional barriers in schools that perpetuate low academic achievement outcomes and a pipeline to prison for Native Hawaiians by recruiting, developing, placing and retaining teachers from Wai‘anae that reflect the student population. Currently Wai‘anae has the highest rate of teacher turnover in the state with only one-fourth of the teachers reflect that ethnic diversity of the student population, and the highest placement of new teachers, emergency hires, substitutes, and non-resident teachers. Through INPEACE’s support, Wai‘anae residents—many of whom are first-generation, non-traditional college students from low-income households and also reflect the ethnic diversity of students—earn their credentials in teaching and are placed in Wai‘anae schools.
INPEACE’s GYO model is a community-based approach: through strong community partnerships with local schools, teacher preparation programs, teacher and paraprofessional unions, and various community organizations, INPEACE’s KKLEA program provides comprehensive wrap-around services to a vast network of community members who are committed to teach in their local schools.
During this site visit, GYOC members visited KKLEA alumnae and participants who are currently working in Wai‘anae public schools along the preK-12 spectrum. Representatives from Hawaii’s local teacher’s union, teacher preparation programs, and the state’s Department of Education Human Resources office joined us as well. We saw:
· INPEACE’s two-generation Keiki Steps program, an early childhood program that services 0-5 year olds and their caregivers simultaneously and is strategically located on K-6 school campuses to improve the transitions into formal schooling and support long-term school success for the whole family. More than 90% of Keiki Steps early childhood teachers are Wai‘anae residents, Native Hawaiians, and reflect the diversity of the children and parents that attend. Parents we interviewed reported they prefer this program over other mainstream preschool options they previously sent their children to, and noticed improvements and increased gains in their child’s development and learning as soon as they joined Keiki Steps.
· A K-8 public charter school, Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao, that has a strong focus on Native Hawaiian culture from its curriculum to its hiring practice. The principal of the school shared his vision for Native Hawaiian practices at the heart and center of the school and intentionally hires teachers who are committed to this vision. Many of INPEACE’s KKLEA alumnae are employees of Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao, some of them who have been teaching in Wai‘anae for almost 20 years now. Some of them are also Nationally Board Certified (obtained with financial and coaching supports from INPEACE) and have received national recognition for their work in the classroom. Others have also moved into administrative and leadership positions in the school. They all shared about a deep passion for their community and their students and the need to perpetuate the student’s culture as the backbone for their school success. Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao has the highest student performance outcomes of all the schools in Wai‘anae, and is one of the few schools with the highest teacher retention rates in the State (despite the high teacher turnover rate in the neighboring schools).
· A middle school, Wai‘anae Intermediate, where INPEACE’s Kupu Ola program has developed an “outdoor classroom” on school grounds to support culturally-congruent learning experiences for students. Wai‘anae Intermediate struggles with some of the highest rates of absenteeism and truancy, but the development of the outdoor classroom in the past few years has successfully engaged students on the verge of drop-out and instilled a sense of pride in their culture and ownership in the school.
· A high school, Wai‘anae High, where a current INPEACE KKLEA participant is working as an emergency hire. We mingled with her 30+ students in her non-airconditioned portable at high noon on a hot day, and noticed some of the stark contrasts between this school and Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao, where administrative vision and integration into the community affect the type of resources and support available to teachers and their students. We also heard from high school students who expressed a deep appreciation for their teacher, who reflects their cultural values, heritage, and knowledge. They shared how the Native Hawaiian teachers they’ve had helped instill a sense of pride and self-respect in themselves that kept them engaged and interested in school.
Through this visit and future visits, we continue to gather data on best practices of the GYO model.