NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Grow Your Own campaign from the Virginia Department of Education is an effort to create new teachers by lowering the barriers of entry and changing ideas about what makes a great educator.
Grow Your Own programs help future teachers work towards their bachelor’s degrees and fulfill all licensure requirements. The program provides funding to school divisions across the Commonwealth to establish and further develop teaching apprenticeships that partner with universities to educate potential teachers.
Dr. Lisa Coons is the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Virginia Dept. of Education. She knows the campaign eases the financial burden for people who are interested in becoming educators.
“There's nothing better than having a highly qualified teacher who knows the community, knows the school and wants to be one. And that's a game changer for every child in our state,” Coon said.
The program is in full swing across the Commonwealth educating the next class of local educators. The program lowers one of the biggest barriers to entry, cost.
“Sometimes we have instructional assistants or bus drivers or secretaries who are in the school because they want to be a part of it but don't have the means and ways to become a teacher," Coon said.
Newport News Public Schools has already received 300 thousand dollars in funding for their apprenticeships and officials say the returns are already working out.
“They gain increasing responsibility as their content information increases and so they become better employees and we are able to provide better services for our students. It’s exciting,” Kim Hammond said.
Hammond is a training and development coordinator for the school division and says the Grow Your Own program is working wonderfully. The division developed a teaching residency a few years ago. But Hammond says the funding they’ve recently received has accelerated progress.
"Right now we have six people in the cohort going through the program from five different schools in the division. All elementary, and we hope to add at least 15, I would love to have 20 by the time fall begins,” Hammond said.
The program is open to all who are interested in becoming a teacher. Applicants will start as full-time instructional assistants while taking classes through Averett or Mary Baldwin University. You can find more information on the program on the Newport News Schools website.
Hammond says the goal is to create new educators who better the schools they’re already connected to.