New America Releases Grow-Your-Own Report

To address the critical rural teacher shortage, multiple approaches are necessary to ensure that all schools are staffed with qualified, prepared teacher-leaders. Throughout our history, Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC) has championed the idea of Rural Teacher Corps, or the intentional effort to recruit, prepare, and retain rural educators. RSC's new Rural Educators Ecosystem: A Community of Learners project embodies this undertaking, and it will develop a national support system for nearly 20 participating rural teacher corps projects.

However, there is another important vehicle for rural teacher preparation and placement. Grow Your Own programs (GYO) employ teacher recruitment and preparation strategies that are based on targeting, recruiting, and developing teachers from within local communities. GYO efforts are often collaborative and are keenly focused on teacher retention and connection to place. For more about GYO programs, check out RSC’s 2024 Rural Teacher Corps Forum, where Amaya Garcia of New America shared about how GYO efforts are similar to and support Rural Teacher Corps efforts.

New America, a national research and policy organization, has just released a comprehensive new resource: Research Agenda: Grow Your Own Teachers. Compiled in collaboration with GYO experts and a team of researchers, the Research Agenda highlights the importance of developing authentic GYO programs, describes the characteristics of successful programs, and outlines essential research questions that deserve greater attention.

We encourage you to read this timely piece.