What Do We Mean by "Grow Your Own"? Exploring Differences Across Programs

• In Event: Grow Your Own Programs and Teachers of Color: Examining Program Design, Preparation, and Retention

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to provide an initial conceptual framing of Grow Your Own (GYO) programs to better assist the field’s understanding of their nature and focus. In order to identify a distinguishable characteristic of GYO programs, I utilize the Murrell (2001) notion of the community teacher as a heuristic device to frame GYO programs as committed to recruiting and preparing local community teachers. The community teacher is distinguished by his or her commitment to operate on the meso, micro, and macro levels of educational life to execute transformative work in local school communities in light of the unjust sociopolitical and historic treatment of communities of color in the United States.

Thus, I operationalize GYO programs as community and school partnerships committed to social justice in local communities through the development of community based teachers via the establishment of three primary recruitment frames in partnership with local school districts: 1) a gender-race specific focus (e.g., recruiting Black males) for increasing teachers of color (Author, 2012); 2) a community-driven focus in collaboration with entities such as community based organizations, faith-based institutions, or educational advocacy groups, to recruit and support the preparation and retention experiences of teachers from the local community (Skinner et al, 2011); or 3) a professional pipeline focus (e.g., career ladder programs) for a pool of students and/or educational support staff (e.g., high school students and paraprofessional) with interest and commitment to education (Hill & Gillette, 2005). In order to examine the nature of the different program types in context, I conducted a comparative case study of each program models. Data sources included program archival data, interviews with program leaders and teachers, and field notes from campus visits.

Findings suggest that a core commonality across the three GYO recruitment frames is that they target teachers who do not have college degrees, thus initiating the “growing” teachers process at the beginning of their higher education pursuits. Also, these GYO programs typically utilize teacher education programs as partners for supporting teacher development unlike other pathways to teaching that can bypass schools of education altogether by recruiting college graduates. GYO Programs also require collaboration with other social institutions (e.g., local schools, community organizations, and faith-based institutions) in the recruitment of teachers and are bound by a local geographic location. However, depending on the developmental stages of the GYO community teacher (e.g., older adult attending college for the first time, paraprofessional, or recent high school graduate), programs participants described needing differentiated academic and social supports to ensure their successful program completion. Further, while each program had an expressed committed to recruiting local Teachers of Color, commitments to social justice and availability of advocacy vehicles varied, suggesting that GYO programs are more likely shaped by their unspoken, yet acted upon actual commitments to local community transformations. These findings are significant in that they suggest not all GYO programs are not created equally, and need to be closely examined to better understand the merits and potential pitfalls of varying designs.

Author

• Conra D. Gist, University of Arkansas