Grow Your Own (State Funds) Grant

The Grow Your Own (State Funds) Grant aims to address teacher shortages in high-need areas of Missouri by recruiting and supporting local candidates to become educators. This initiative is critical as enrollment in teacher education programs has significantly declined, particularly affecting schools with diverse student populations. The grant promotes collaboration between school districts and communities, fostering a sustainable pipeline of qualified teachers who reflect the diversity of the student body, ultimately enhancing educational outcomes.

Purpose and Background
During the past ten years, enrollment in teacher education programs has declined by over 25 percent. While this much of a decline impacts all LEAs, it impacts schools with high percentages of students of color, schools with high percentages of students in poverty and urban and rural schools the most. In addition, the decline makes filling hard-to-staff content areas like special education, math and science more challenging as well as recruiting male candidates and teacher candidates of color.
Attrition data represents the number of positions the LEAs need to fill from one year to the next. In the state of Missouri, average attrition rates for the last six years are approximately 11 percent to 11.5 percent. This is higher than the nationwide average of 8 percent or the average 4 percent that occurs in high performing countries. The majority of vacant positions are filled with new teachers. As a result, when an LEA cannot find teachers, they are forced to leave positions vacant or fill vacant positions with teachers who teach out of their area of certification.
Having excellent teachers for all students is a goal shared by all schools and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Recruiting high-quality teachers comes with challenges. By attracting and supporting students and other adults in their home districts to be future teachers, districts are helping to ensure excellent education for all. Research supports growing your own teachers as a viable means of creating a continuous supply of quality, prospective candidates who are reflective of the diverse teacher workforce needs within a local school community.
Grow Your Own programs align with one of the priorities of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Prepare, develop and support educators to ensure an effective teacher in every classroom and an effective leader in every school. These programs also provide a culture of collaboration between school districts, higher education and communities, serve as a workforce development initiative, and instill community pride when students return to teach.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education aims to address four goals through this grant opportunity:
Address teacher shortages in high-need content and geographic areas across the stateRecruit a more diverse teacher workforce to serve the growing diversity of Missouri studentsImprove teacher retention through school and community supportsIncrease the learning success of Missouri students under high-quality teaching staff
This grant is to be used for the purpose of creating or sustaining a Grow Your Own recruitment program.