Grow Your Own IL – Supporting the Teachers Our Students and Schools Need

The Grow Your Own Teacher program in Illinois (GYO IL) is a unique approach to diversifying the teacher workforce that supports low-income community members of color in becoming highly effective teachers in neighborhood schools. In Illinois, GYO offers a career pathway for individuals who have a passion for teaching and their communities, but often don’t have the means or opportunity to realize that desire. GYO offers a host of wrap-around supports to help candidates overcome barriers and complete the program. With its innovative approach, GYO not only addresses the shortage of diverse teachers across Illinois, but it also provides a vehicle for community members to pursue a lifelong passion and secure a career.

GYO IL currently has 49 candidates in Chicago and 13 in Peoria. They attend a range of universities and they are working to join the 60 GYO graduates already teaching in the Chicago area and seven teaching in Peoria. The majority of GYO candidates in Illinois are low-income and have families to support. For many, the dream of returning to, or starting college, is elusive. Through forgivable loans for tuition and intensive wrap-around services, like financial assistance for child care, transportation and tutoring, the barriers that prevent many people from pursuing their dreams of becoming a teacher are lifted.

Beyond the financial supports, another key component of the program is the monthly meetings when candidates come together to build community and engage in supplemental trainings. GYO IL relies on its higher education partners to provide high quality teacher preparation programming, but provides additional learnings on social justice issues impacting the community, schools and students. For instance, during the 2018-2019 academic year, there have been sessions on trauma informed pedagogy, classroom management through a restorative justice lens, creating a gender inclusive classroom and self-care for educators. GYO IL wants to support its candidates in becoming teacher leaders inside and outside the classroom.

GYO IL grew out of the work of Chicago organizing groups working in low-income neighborhoods to improve schools. One of these groups, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, created a pilot program, Nueva Generación, that supported low-income Latinx parent volunteers on their path to becoming teachers. The idea of supporting local talent to become classroom teachers resonated with community groups across Chicago who were struggling with finding solutions to significant teacher turnover, the opportunity gap among low-income students of color and the disconnect between students of color and white administrators and teachers.

The community groups created a coalition of organizations interested in transforming the pilot program into a scalable, state-wide program. In 2004, the coalition wrote and successfully advocated for a state law, the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act. The act outlines the parameters of the program including eligibility, program requirements, supports provided and expectations upon graduation.

In 2005, the group won state funding for the Grow Your Own initiative and formed Grow Your Own Illinois, a not-for-profit organization, to oversee the statewide work. GYO IL was selected by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the state agency tasked with administering the program and the distribution of state funds, to develop the initiative statewide. At the completion of the first year, GYO IL helped to create 16 consortia across the state, eight in Chicago and eight in other high-need Illinois communities.

From 2005-2015, GYO programs in the state were collaborations of universities, school districts and community organizations. Each program was administered independently but would come together each year for an annual gathering hosted by GYO IL and work together to advocate for continued state funding and raise private funds. ISBE was in charge of evaluating the program and collecting and maintaining all of the data about the program. During the first 10 years, five programs ended, each for a different reason. Some closures were due to a change in leadership at the local level that represented a shift in priorities and in other locales the sheer difficulty of administering the program became too great.

Then, in 2015, everything changed: that year marked the beginning of Illinois’ two-year budget impasse during which time no agency or organization, except those deemed critical, received state funding. Because the GYO programs across Illinois largely depended on state funding the program was decimated. A handful of programs tried to limp along, but the only program that was able to survive was in Chicago.

Beginning in 2015, GYO IL took over the administration and operation of all programming. GYO IL was able to raise enough funds to support candidates and begin recruiting again in 2017. With the loss of state funds came the opportunity to re-imagine the program to make it more effective and efficient. During the impasse, GYO IL made significant changes to outreach, recruitment, admissions and administration of the program. The key supports remain the same.

With the return of state funds in 2018, GYO IL is working to strengthen and expand its program in Chicago and beyond. Unfortunately, the need for the program has only grown since it began in 2005. GYO IL continues to support passionate community members on their path to becoming teachers in hopes of not only increasing the number of diverse teachers, but also to help bridge the cultural mismatch between students and their schools and increase student achievement.

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