Grow Your Own Teachers Initiative

Vision, Principles and Best Practices

 

Recruiting and Identifying Candidates

The teacher candidates are at the center of Grow Your Own.  Developing parents, community members, and paraprofessionals as teachers and creating a pipeline of teachers of color is the goal of the initiative.

Which Candidates Qualify?

Since the GYO initiative is based in the community, the program targets three non-traditional sources of potential candidates. As the law provides, these groups are eligible to be candidates:

• Para-educators, such as teacher assistants, special education assistants, school clerks, cafeteria employees, security guards;

• Parents or community residents who are active in the schools;

• Members and leaders of the community organization who are active on education issues.

According to the law and regulations, these candidates will most likely have a “non-traditional background,” i.e., they have never attended college because they could not afford it; they began a baccalaureate program at a point in time other than immediately following graduation from high school; they began a baccalaureate program after high school and did not complete it; or, they hold a GED certificate as opposed to a high school diploma.

The program will be evaluated on a number of counts.  Important data will be gathered by each program, such as:

• Home zip codes of the candidates
• Racial/ethnic makeup of the candidates
• Percent who stay year to year
• Percent who complete the program
• Percent still teaching in hard-to-staff schools after five and seven years.

Thus, it is in each consortium’s interest to target candidates from the communities where hard-to-staff schools are located and insure that the candidates are, to the extent possible, from a racial or ethnic group that reflects that of the student population.  They will seek candidates with the commitment to stay in the program, go into teaching and stay in hard-to-staff schools even beyond the five years required in order for loans to be forgiven. 

GYO is not a program that encourages people to become certified as teachers, teach for five years, and then move elsewhere to teach. Therefore, it is in our interest to create a program whose culture attracts the candidates who are, in fact, where they want to be long term and who have no intention of going anywhere else.

Which Schools Qualify? 

Because GYO targets candidates from the low-income communities where hard-to-staff schools or hard-to-fill positions are located, it is hard to identify the candidates without first identifying the schools. 

There is a definition of hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-fill positions in the legislation. According to the law, a hard- to-staff school is an Illinois public school that “ranks in the upper third” among public schools of its type (elementary, middle, secondary) “on a combined index” of teachers not fully certified and rate of attrition among teachers.   

A hard-to-fill teaching position is defined as any position in a school serving a substantial percentage of low income students (K-8 schools where 35 percent are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, or 9-12 schools where 25 percent are so eligible) where data compiled by the state board of education indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial teacher shortage or that is identified as hard to staff by the responsible official of the school district. 

In order to identify schools that qualify, ACORN and the Cross City Campaign have done extensive research on schools statewide, with the help of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).  As a result, Grow Your Own Illinois can now provide information on percentage of low income students, teacher turnover and racial discrepancy between students and teachers.  Consortia have used this information to identify the communities of need and thus the communities from which to recruit candidates.

Sources of Potential Candidates

The community organization has strong relationships in the community that enables them to recruit potential teacher candidates for the Grow Your Own program. They can tap a number of sources including participants of school parent involvement programs, paraprofessionals and teachers’ aides and community leaders.  Because the idea of the program is to “grow” teachers who will stay in their communities, choosing parent, community, and paraprofessional “seeds” that live in and are already involved in the community is one way to guarantee that happens. 

Community organizations have been successful in recruiting candidates through existing community education programs. Many community organizations have strong ties to their local schools and their members participate in a number of programs in the local schools which involve adults and parents.   These programs serve as a way to organize the community, and in turn provide a source for potential Grow Your Own candidates.  One reason that community organizations play such an important role in the GYO consortia is because of this access to active community members already invested in education. 

For example, almost a decade ago, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association on Chicago’s northwest side began a program called “Parent Mentors”.  Parents, primarily low-income immigrant Latina mothers, were trained and then assigned to a classroom in their own children’s schools, where they assisted the classroom teacher and worked with students. Working as a mentor allowed parents access to the schools and classrooms, places where many of them had not felt welcome before.  As parents found their places in the classrooms, some of them began to identify with the teachers and to say to themselves, “I could do that.”  LSNA believed that some of the parent mentors could, indeed, become teachers and sought a local university with which to collaborate.  This was the birth of Nueva Generación, the model for the GYO program.

School parent involvement programs such as Parent Mentors are an excellent source from which to recruit teacher candidates because they include people who are already involved in the education system and have some knowledge of how it works.  However, there are many other sources from which potential Grow Your Own Teacher candidates can surface.  One group of potential candidates is school paraprofessionals or teachers’ aides. 

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, a paraprofessional must now have 60 college credit hours or pass an examination in order to be able to work in a school.  This has changed the nature of the position, and many people have had to leave their jobs because they lack sufficient education credits.  The Grow Your Own Teachers initiative is a resource for these unemployed paraprofessionals to achieve their 60 hours and beyond, as well as those that finished their 60 hours but could not continue because of the financial burden.  Both ACORN and TARGET Area Development Corporation have formed cohorts that include paraprofessionals and teachers’ aides.  They are excellent potential candidates because of their classroom experience, dedication to their local schools and their understanding of what being a teacher entails.  

A third group from which potential Grow Your Own Teacher candidates can be recruited is community leaders--members of the community that are active in education in a variety of ways. In Chicago, they might be members of local school councils.  They might be leaders in local business or civic associations engaged with the schools or they might be active members of the community organization, with a special interest in the education work of the organization.  This ensures a dedication to and an interest in the field of education, as well as an investment in the community. 

Recruiting Candidates

Once the community organization and other consortium members decide which groups and individuals will be targeted, they recruit candidates using effective means of communication, such as creating a buzz at the schools by using multiple means of getting the word out. Personal contacts are very effective.  In addition to preparing flyers and sending them home with students at the local schools, recruiters can make announcements at LSC and PTA meetings and they should then make follow-up phone calls. Recruiters will want to meet with the school principals and ask them to inform their paraprofessionals and other school staff who may be interested. Recruiters can make announcements at church or other community gathering places, contact the teachers union and ask them to inform their members, put GYO on the agenda of the community organization and ask that each member contact three or four people who may be interested.

Informational Meetings

Community organizers who are recruiting will want to schedule one or more community informational meetings at times that accommodate different schedules so that anyone interested can receive information about the GYO program at a location that is convenient and inviting.  The community organization and their higher education partner should run the meetings, in order to be able to answer the likely large number of questions posed by the attendees.

At each meeting, the organizer will want to make a sign-up sheet available for those potential candidates who are ready to proceed or who want to continue to explore this opportunity. At each meeting, attendees should sign in with their name, phone number, address and email address if applicable.  The organizer should be sure to follow up with those who have expressed interest because potential candidates are almost sure to have additional questions and may need to be encouraged to pursue their interest in participating in the program.  It is also important to use informational meetings to inform the meeting participants of the specific requirements for entry into the program (i.e., university application, transcripts, placement tests, photocopy of a photo identification, and so on.) 

Identification and Assessment of Candidates

Once recruitment and dissemination of information is completed, the organizer and their higher education partners will begin assessing candidates and forming a cohort.  Experience has shown that to get a cohort of 50 candidates, it is important to recruit up to 200, since some will have second thoughts and drop out, some will be unable to assemble all of their needed paperwork (especially difficult if their transcripts are from overseas), some will not pass the initial placement tests or will find the academic work too difficult, and a few will face family emergencies and be unable to continue. Because of the challenges of getting the transcripts and taking the placement tests, consortia are learning that they should assume that of the interested people who attend their information sessions, approximately one in four will do what is necessary to enroll.

Assembling the Needed Documents 

In order to choose potential teacher candidates and form a cohort of students, the higher education and community partners will assess candidates by looking at their applications, transcripts from all other colleges and universities attended, and other documents required for community college and/or university admission.  Potential candidates may need copies of their high school diploma or their GED certificate. The potential candidates should begin gathering these documents right away. Obtaining all transcripts takes time and support from a program coordinator is critical at this juncture.   

For candidates who cannot access their transcripts because of unpaid bills, some schools may accept a payment agreement if they understand that the transcript will provide access to an educational program that will result in higher income and faster payment of the tuition bill.   

It is important to take into consideration the difficulties potential candidates may have in obtaining transcripts when making a timeline from recruitment to the first day of class.  For many people, finding their way through the bureaucracy can be the first barrier to their academic success. The community organization and the university need to assist at this first stage in the process.  Students will learn to overcome bureaucratic hurdles as they become more experienced in dealing with educational systems, but they should not be dissuaded from applying simply because they are not good at managing bureaucracies up front.

Evaluating International Documents 

Any student with high school or college credits from a foreign country must obtain their transcripts and have the degree evaluated for a U.S. equivalency.  Prior to this evaluation, the transcript may need to be translated into English and notarized. The Illinois State Board of Education maintains an approved list of organizations qualified to evaluate foreign transcripts, and these organizations charge for the service.

Selection of Candidates

There is not yet data to suggest how best to screen candidates for Grow Your Own positions.  Ultimately, candidates must be capable of doing the rigorous academic work that will be required.  However, past academic performance may not be the best predictor of potential academic ability for a group of motivated adults.  Each consortium will define their own alternative selection criteria such as demonstrated accomplishment in the classroom or in an education-related position, commitment to the students who need them the most, such as special education and behaviorally-challenged students, rather than the traditional academic screening.

Maria Teresa Garreton, Bilingual Education Program Coordinator, Chicago State University and an experienced higher education partner who developed the Nueva Generación program with LSNA, said “We are dealing with a very non-traditional population and we have not found any instruments or measures that have helped us determine who would be a good teacher before getting started.  For these cohorts, we have been granted waivers from requirements such as ACT minimum scores, GPA’s, etc. because we found that very often taking the ACT test itself was a barrier that could not be overcome until the participants have developed stronger basic skills as well as test taking skills. …Part of what makes this program unique is that everyone has the opportunity to participate, and most of them, if life circumstances do not stop them, are able to take advantage of it.” 

As GYO is implemented around the state, consortia will learn more from each other about screening and final selection. 

Academic Predictors

One way of addressing academic potential is to place possible candidates for the program in an early developmental class or two (most likely reading, math, or composition) during the planning process, provide plenty of support in the form of attention from an organizer or coordinator and a tutor to assist them, hold meetings of the students to assist in the development of solidarity and cohort relationships, and see who succeeds.  Getting classes started early (with no commitments to the students that they are guaranteed a slot in the GYO program) forces them to get their transcripts in and their placement tests completed, and provides them with a realistic opportunity to assess the wear and tear on their family and work lives.  If they find that they cannot handle the academics or the time investment, despite a great deal of support, it may save the consortium an early dropout and the potential candidate can try out the program without a financial commitment. The cost of these contracted developmental classes can be included in the planning or implementation grant.

For those potential students who speak English as a second language, their English language skills must be assessed to ensure that they will be able to read, write and comprehend at the college level.  This can be determined through placement tests, interviews, or other types of language assessment.  Immigrant students may need additional courses to attain the necessary level of English.

Selection Criteria

There is no rubric to follow when assessing a potential Grow Your Own Teacher candidate but there are some things to consider:

• Candidates of color Because GYO was founded to increase the number of teachers of color, an effort should be made to include as many minority candidates as possible.  It is an important goal for GYO to provide as many minority candidates as possible with an opportunity to receive a college education which has previously not been available to them for economic or other reasons. 
• Candidates from the community Another goal of GYO is to decrease the teacher turnover rates in low-income schools in the state. Research indicates that teachers “go home to teach,” and because of this GYO intends to recruit candidates from a specific geographic area.  This will help to maintain a close-knit cohort, make it possible to hold classes that are accessible to everyone and ensure that once the students graduate as teachers they will stay to teach in the community where they live.  This is another reason why GYO targets community leaders and parents who have already shown a commitment to their local schools. 

Because of the length and unique structure of the program, there is no guaranteed formula for “growing” a successful teacher of color who will stay home to teach and remain committed to their community. Learning from programs like Nueva Generación and from the ten new collaborations between universities and community organizations will allow the successful achievement of the goal of 1000 new teachers by the year 2016.

Placement Testing

Upon completion of university and/or community college application materials, all potential cohort members take the required placement exams for their specific institution.  This is a university or community college requirement and the results help determine which courses will be initially offered to the students. It is critical that placement tests be administered prior to planning developmental courses so that students do not take unnecessary courses.  The community-based coordinator needs to work with the university personnel in order to schedule the exams.  It is recommended that the potential candidates all go on the same date or dates for testing.  Depending upon the population and the location of the university, transportation may also need to be arranged for the group, or the university or community college may be able to hold a placement test in the community.   The results of the placement tests are sent to the university coordinator who uses the results to plan the developmental course work for the cohort.

Evaluating Transcripts

As part of most university admissions processes, students with at least 24 hours of college credit do not need to submit high school transcripts.  If they have fewer than 24 hours, they must do so. Potential candidates must comply with the partnering university’s requirements.  (As noted above, foreign transcripts, both high school and college, need to be evaluated by an outside organization approved by the Illinois State Board of Education in order to determine the U.S. equivalency of the foreign degree and/or credits, for which a fee is charged.)  Transcripts from all other colleges and universities attended will be evaluated by the university. 

Protecting Transferability of Credits

It is important to have transfer credits evaluated by the certification office in the college of education at the four year institution, even if the candidates will be starting classes at a community college.  The program coordinator should play an advocacy role in helping to ensure that students transfer the maximum number of credits.  One of the roles of the coordinator is to help potential candidates understand which credits may transfer, to answer potential candidates’ questions and to insure that no time is wasted taking courses that are non-transferable.
 

Developmental Courses

University faculty members evaluate transcripts in part to identify whether potential candidates need some basic coursework before they enter the regular college program. The cohort coordinator uses the evaluation of transcripts combined with the results of the placement exams to assess an individual student’s placement in courses as well as to plan which courses to offer. In some cases students need to complete one or more developmental courses, such as basic reading, math, and composition.  Developmental courses are not included in the general education curriculum but are necessary in order to ensure success for students once they are in general education courses.  As such, the developmental courses do not count toward the final number of credits but are prerequisites for general education courses.  In addition to being a university requirement, developmental courses are important in the evolution of the cohort and the formation of the group.  Many of the students have not been in school for some years.  The courses serve as “refreshers” and serve to re-acclimate the students to the school environment and to prepare them for academic success once in the general education courses.