Chasing a Pipe(line) Dream? Critical Race Evaluation of Interests in Grow-Your-Own Strategies

• In Event: Humanizing the Teaching Profession: Implications for Recruiting and Retaining Teachers of Color

Abstract

Increasing teacher diversity remains a priority across the education field. The rapid expansion of Grow Your Own (GYO) programs across the United States and their political backing from federal and local education policymakers (Cardona, 2023; Garcia, 2020; Gerber & Swisher, 2022) necessitates an urgent need to interrogate the interests undergirding those who are creating, advocating, and legislating these teacher diversity initiatives. Further, it’s imperative to examine the conceptual and practical implications of GYOs in the current socio-political context (Brown, 2014; Gist & Bristol, 2022; Hood et al., 2022). Thus, this critical scoping literature review employs critical race theory to 1) explore neoliberal interests underlying GYOs and 2) analyze how interest convergence impacts GYOs as a promising BIPOC teacher recruitment strategy.

Author

• Acelynn C. Perkins, University of Colorado - Boulder