View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Marketing the Profession: Educational Leaders' Perspectives on the Implementation of High School Grow-Your-Own Teacher Programs

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Marketing the Profession: Educational Leaders' Perspectives on the Implementation of High School Grow-Your-Own Teacher Programs
Language: English
Authors: Wesley Edwards (ORCID 0000-0001-9221-6260), Alexis Miller, Kafarra Q. L. Burden
Source: Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas. 2025 98(3):117-128.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Secondary Education
Descriptors: High School Students, Ethnic Diversity, Student Diversity, Diversity (Faculty), High School Teachers, Teacher Education Programs, Minority Group Teachers, Teaching (Occupation), Career Choice, Student Characteristics, Career Pathways, Administrator Attitudes
Geographic Terms: Texas
DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2025.2511959
ISSN: 0009-8655
1939-912X
Abstract: In this study we used a mixed-methods research design to investigate high school Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher preparation programs. Findings indicate that high school students enrolled in GYO programs were more ethnoracially diverse than the current teacher workforce. Interviews with district leaders tasked with implementation of high school GYO programs illustrate challenges in marketing teaching as a profession due to concerns about workload, pay, and public perceptions of teachers. Implications for district leaders, high school administrators, and policymakers include the need for increased mentorship and support systems for students transitioning from GYO programs to teaching positions, as well as sustained funding for program implementation and recruitment strategies. Our findings underscore the potential of high school GYO programs in diversifying the teacher workforce and providing early exposure to the teaching profession, while emphasizing the need for long-term outcome monitoring and evaluation.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1506787
Database: ERIC
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
    Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwHD6j-ffivxxsoaC7LZtbfJAAAA4zCB4AYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHSMIHPAgEAMIHJBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDL69sEuY5FvEtN00VAIBEICBm_sZJDVtF3R6UHdEKUFfCDuizcsAr30-pDGGrd6LPOhXs1w9Nh1F_8wG1HwFOnNUf1ZwbjLs2deyFdOHWVGif3gKLnNtK_Lhw0hStMuOP8h1gFm9fgE09B14jkHYnaa6JYcaLWX18bDXR1-5ZNeMMGlMq8MMDQt_I9gm8EoFbikG7_rTZ51RutVX3UiRSwFw2mbj940Ud7ehFofq
Text:
  Availability: 1
  Value: <anid>AN0186082082;clh01may.25;2025Jun24.02:15;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0186082082-1">Marketing the Profession: Educational Leaders' Perspectives on the Implementation of High School Grow-Your-Own Teacher Programs </title> <p>In this study we used a mixed-methods research design to investigate high school Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher preparation programs. Findings indicate that high school students enrolled in GYO programs were more ethnoracially diverse than the current teacher workforce. Interviews with district leaders tasked with implementation of high school GYO programs illustrate challenges in marketing teaching as a profession due to concerns about workload, pay, and public perceptions of teachers. Implications for district leaders, high school administrators, and policymakers include the need for increased mentorship and support systems for students transitioning from GYO programs to teaching positions, as well as sustained funding for program implementation and recruitment strategies. Our findings underscore the potential of high school GYO programs in diversifying the teacher workforce and providing early exposure to the teaching profession, while emphasizing the need for long-term outcome monitoring and evaluation.</p> <p>Keywords: Teacher preparation; district leadership; grow your own programs; high school</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-2">Introduction</hd> <p>In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, teacher shortages and low teacher retention rates are persistent problems for K-12 educational leaders (Bacher-Hicks, Chi, and Orellana [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref1">2</reflink>]; Castro [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref2">8</reflink>]). Especially concerning is evidence showing lower rates of retention for novice teachers (Bastian and Fuller [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref3">3</reflink>]; Roberson and Roberson [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref4">43</reflink>]). New teacher preparation initiatives have emerged—such as Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher preparation models—with the intention of both increasing the ethnoracial diversity of the workforce and filling vacant positions (Garcia [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref5">24</reflink>]). GYO models are preparation programs with the goal of recruiting and training teachers from within local communities, usually with a focus on increasing the number of teachers from historically underrepresented groups—in terms of ethnoracial identity, language, or class background (Gist, Bianco, and Lynn [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref6">28</reflink>]).</p> <p>Often, GYO programs feature a close partnership between teacher preparation programs, K-12 school districts, and universities (Edwards et al. [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref7">21</reflink>]; Garcia, Manuel, and Buly [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref8">25</reflink>]). While the research about GYO programs is scarce, there is some evidence suggesting that these models of preparation lead to increased teacher retention rates (Fortner et al. [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref9">23</reflink>]; Ross and Ahmed [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref10">44</reflink>]) and improved student outcomes (Blazar et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref11">4</reflink>]; Schultz, Gillette, and Hill [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref12">47</reflink>]). GYO proponents also note the potential for community-based teacher training to increase democratic and civic engagement (Valenzuela [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref13">60</reflink>])—as community members become invested in their local schools and educational institutions in the process of educating the next generation of citizens.</p> <p>Across the U.S. and internationally, there is wide variation in the design and implementation of GYO models (Cochran-Smith [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref14">10</reflink>]; Edwards and Kraft [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref15">19</reflink>]). Approaches include paraprofessional certification pathways, teacher residencies, and teaching apprenticeships, all of which target local community members, current non-instructional school staff, local college students, and college graduates (Edwards et al. [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref16">17</reflink>]; Gist et al. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref17">29</reflink>]). A recent landscape analysis of GYO models in the U.S. found that the most common approach was the High School (HS) GYO model (Edwards and Kraft [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref18">19</reflink>]), yet there is limited research exploring whether the model is effective as recruiting and preparing teachers who are more ethnoracially diverse compared to the current workforce. And from a leadership and policy perspective, there is a lack of evidence as to the feasibility of implementing such programs.</p> <p>We used a mixed-methods approach to produce new evidence about the students enrolled in HS GYO programs, and perspectives from district-level leaders tasked with organizing and implementing such programs. We found that students enrolled in these programs were more ethnoracially diverse than the current teacher workforce and that leaders of HS GYO programs felt they were spending their time marketing teaching as a profession due to high school students' anxiety about the increasing workloads, stagnant pay, and increased political scrutiny associated with teaching. Our findings are relevant to leaders and policy makers considering similar GYO programs at the High School level in the U.S. and internationally (See et al. [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref19">48</reflink>])—especially in contexts experiencing acute teacher shortages. In the following sections, we address the prior literature related to this topic, outline our methods, discuss our results, and connect our findings to key implications for future research, policy, and practice.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-3">Literature</hd> <p>Grow Your Own teacher preparation pathways typically identify teacher candidates from within the community and provide them with the training and support needed to become fully certified teachers (Garcia [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref20">24</reflink>]). High School GYO programs offer one specific model of localized teacher preparation—with an emphasis on recruiting students before they have entered the higher education or teacher preparation sectors. Often these programs nest within Early College High Schools (Coffey et al. [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref21">11</reflink>]; Curci et al. [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref22">14</reflink>]) and dual enrollment/dual credit programs (Song et al. [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref23">51</reflink>]). Table 1 displays an example of the course structure overview for HS GYO programs in Texas.</p> <p>Table 1. High School Grow Your Own Course Offerings.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead><tr><td>HS GYO track</td><td>Level</td><td>Course number</td><td>Course title</td></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">1</td><td>EDU 101</td><td>Principles of Education and Training</td></tr><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">2</td><td>CD 201</td><td>Child Development</td></tr><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">2</td><td>CG 202</td><td>Child Guidance</td></tr><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">3</td><td>PL 303</td><td>Practicum in Early Learning</td></tr><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">3</td><td>PR 304</td><td>Project-Based Research</td></tr><tr><td>Early Learning</td><td char=".">4</td><td>CP 405</td><td>Career Preparation I</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">1</td><td>EDU 101</td><td>Principles of Education and Training</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">2</td><td>HD 206</td><td>Human Growth and Development</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">3</td><td>IP 307</td><td>Instructional Practices</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">3</td><td>SP 308</td><td>Special Populations</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">4</td><td>PL 409</td><td>Practicum in Education and Training</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">4</td><td>PR 410</td><td>Project-Based Research</td></tr><tr><td>Teaching and Training</td><td char=".">4</td><td>CP 411</td><td>Career Preparation I</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 <emph>Note.</emph> We gathered course offerings information from state agency reports (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref24">58</reflink>]). The column labeled "Level" refers to the ordinal progression which students follow as they complete a HS GYO course sequence.</p> <p>We found only one study investigating the characteristics of students enrolled in HS GYO programs. Wan et al. ([<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref25">61</reflink>]) analyzed high school student enrollment records across programs in Texas and found that students of Color were no more likely to complete HS GYO related coursework, compared to white students. In other words, the program enrollments were not more ethnoracially diverse at the pre-workforce stage, when high school students interested in teaching received training and classroom experience. A separate investigation in North Carolina found that the ethnoracial demographics of students participating in a HS GYO program matched the overall student demographics of the district (Coffey et al. [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref26">11</reflink>]). It is worth noting there was greater ethnoracial diversity amongst students in both programs, compared to that of teachers employed in each context.</p> <p>In terms of whether specific ethnoracial student groups are more drawn to HS GYO programs, only one prior study directly addressed this topic. Blazar et al. ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref27">4</reflink>]), found that white and Black female HS students enrolled in and benefited the most from HS GYO programs. Although not a study of HS GYO programs, Redding ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref28">41</reflink>]) found that homegrown teachers were more likely to identify as Black than any other ethnoracial group. Taken together, these findings align with the Achinstein et al. ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref29">1</reflink>]) seminal study, which found that Black and Latinx district graduates were likely to work in a school where the student population reflected their race/ethnicity due to their familiarity and commitment to their community—therefore these student groups might be more likely to enroll in HS GYO programming.</p> <p>Beyond the goal of diversifying the workforce, there is limited evidence for the success of GYO programs in actually leading to increased rates of employment for locally grown teachers. Wan et al. ([<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref30">61</reflink>]) identified early outcomes of GYO programs by conducting a comparative data analysis between GYO and non-GYO school districts and found that less than 10% of students in GYO school districts completed at least one education and training course annually during the grant period. HS GYO programs are associated with an increased interest in pursuing teaching as a career (Jackson and Wake [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref31">31</reflink>]), and one study found that a program in Maryland actually led to an increased likelihood that high school students went on to become employed teachers (Blazar et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref32">4</reflink>]). There is potential for employing GYO programs to recruit and develop teacher candidates from school neighborhoods (Gist [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref33">27</reflink>]), yet the researchers and policymakers need more evidence that this pathway is leading to increased employment.</p> <p>Prior research outlines a set of common characteristics for successful HS GYO implementation. For example, educational leaders in these districts invested in the theory of action underpinning HS GYO programs, specifically the idea that they can help build a stronger teacher workforce and increase early career teacher retention (Redding [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref34">41</reflink>]). A program of dual credit teacher education course offerings is another characteristic associated with strong HS GYO programs (Curci et al. [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref35">14</reflink>]). Educational leaders describe the implementation of these programs as an opportunity to bolster students' college preparation and success (Martinez et al. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref36">37</reflink>]). Dual credit offerings within HS GYO programs are organized alongside or within larger Career and Technical Education (CTE) district-wide efforts (Edmunds et al. [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref37">16</reflink>]). This feature suggests that the administration of such programs is complicated work, requiring coordination between leaders within K-12 districts, teacher preparation programs, and the higher education sector (Ledoux and McHenry [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref38">35</reflink>]; Strawn, Fox, and Duck [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref39">53</reflink>]). To date, no researchers have explored the complexity of HS GYO implementation.</p> <p>This elevated level of required coordination is why we hypothesized that educational leaders would describe HS GYO programs as promising but challenging to administer, due to the intricate nature of shared understandings required across the aforementioned sectors, as well as the various barriers students face (Edwards and Kraft [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref40">19</reflink>]). The state policy context is also important in supporting (or hindering) implementation efforts. Many K-12 districts in Texas—including those in our sample—recently received funding and technical support from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to design and implement HS GYO programs (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref41">55</reflink>]). Considering this background, the purpose of this study was to better understand characteristics of the students linked to HS GYO programs and how K-12 district leaders describe implementation efforts.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-4">Methods</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0186082082-5">Research questions</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> What are the demographic characteristics of students enrolled in HS GYO program courses?</item> <p></p> <item> How do educational leaders describe the implementation of HS GYO programs?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0186082082-6">Research design, data, and analysis</hd> <p>We used a mixed-methods research design to organize the collection and analysis of our data for this investigation (Cameron [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref42">5</reflink>]; Cook and Kamalodeen [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref43">12</reflink>]). Following a convergent sequence approach to mixed-methods research, we cleaned and analyzed our quantitative administrative files on a parallel timeline to our qualitative interview data collection and analysis. We then engaged in interpretation of the two sets of findings to make sense of the larger patterns or emergent themes as they related to our two research questions (Creswell and Clarke [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref44">13</reflink>]). We chose this methodological approach to address a gap in current research on Grow Your Own teacher pathways, which often focus on single programs or rely exclusively on either qualitative or quantitative data (Blazar et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref45">4</reflink>]; Carver-Thomas [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref46">7</reflink>]). Our research strategy allowed us to describe the context of HS GYO programs, using a quantitative approach to provide rich detail about the students who were enrolled in these pathways while also gaining insights into the process involved with program implementation. As a result, our findings highlight one key aim of GYO programs—increasing the ethnoracial diversity of the teacher workforce—while also offering insights into their inner workings.</p> <p>We collected, cleaned, and analyzed all data during the spring, summer, and fall of 2023. The administrative state-wide data was accessed <emph>via</emph> a large restricted data clearinghouse, the Texas Education Research Center (ERC), which we gained approval to use through an advisory board proposal review process. All data in the ERC is secondary, and de-identified. Our sample was cross-sectional, totaling 149,542 observations of high school students in Texas during the 2021–2022 school year who enrolled in at least one of the courses associated with HS GYO programs of study.[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref47">1</reflink>]Table 1 displays a list of HS GYO courses. This school year was the most recent available and represented the height of implementation efforts for the districts where our qualitative data was collected. We conducted descriptive statistical analyses of race/ethnicity variables linked to each student. Our goal was to produce straightforward quantitative analysis, absent overly complex statistical modeling, as this design choice fit our first research question and produces results more easily understood by practicing educational leaders, policymakers, and high school practitioners (Loeb et al. [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref48">36</reflink>]). We calculated the average or proportional representation for each ethnoracial group and then compared between groups by producing a bar graph. We also disaggregated results for districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) geographic area where we collected our district leader interview data.</p> <p>During this same time-frame, we collected interview data. To do so, we used purposive sampling (Schreier [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref49">46</reflink>]), recruiting district leaders in the process of implementing HS GYO programs. To gain access, we attended a series of stakeholder meetings organized by a DFW-area nonprofit. The goal of these meetings was to foster communication and connection between district leaders, higher education administrators, teacher preparation program leaders, and university faculty. We also recruited <emph>via</emph> email, using public-facing website information to discern DFW district leaders who oversaw implementing HS GYO programs. This process of recruitment was time consuming, taking several months, and we were flexible to the schedule of the leaders recruited. Our recruitment yielded interviews from six district leaders. We reference all leaders using assigned pseudonyms. Table 2 lists each leader and provides details about their district context.[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref50">2</reflink>] To display variation across district contexts we used the locale classification criteria applied by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). Using these criteria, three of our participants worked in large city districts, two in a mid-size city district, and one in a large suburban district (National Center for Education Statistics [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref51">39</reflink>]). One limitation of our study was that our sample did not include any leaders from rural or town contexts. We suggest that future research target these areas as they often experience the most acute teacher shortage issues (Gelber [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref52">26</reflink>]). Interviews were conducted <emph>via</emph> Zoom and were 45–60 min long. Our research team included two doctoral-student researchers and a faculty researcher. We employed a semi-structured interviewing approach, and all members of the research team conducted interviews. Interview transcripts were coded and re-coded until the team arrived at a set of themes describing leaders' characterizations of the HS GYO implementation process (Miles and Huberman [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref53">38</reflink>]).</p> <p>Table 2. Leaders and the Demographics of their Districts.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead><tr><td /><td>Erin: director of planning</td><td>Alex: CTE administrator</td><td>Logan: CTE director</td><td>Taylor: executive director of dual credit courses</td><td>Cameron: GYO district coordinator</td><td>Riley: coordinator of district partnerships</td></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Black</td><td char=".">0.11</td><td char=".">0.12</td><td char=".">0.22</td><td char=".">0.20</td><td char=".">0.20</td><td char=".">0.21</td></tr><tr><td>Latinx</td><td char=".">0.24</td><td char=".">0.31</td><td char=".">0.37</td><td char=".">0.34</td><td char=".">0.34</td><td char=".">0.70</td></tr><tr><td>White</td><td char=".">0.56</td><td char=".">0.37</td><td char=".">0.30</td><td char=".">0.38</td><td char=".">0.38</td><td char=".">0.06</td></tr><tr><td>American Indian</td><td char=".">0.01</td><td char=".">0.00</td><td char=".">0.00</td><td char=".">0.00</td><td char=".">0.00</td><td char=".">0.01</td></tr><tr><td>Asian</td><td char=".">0.06</td><td char=".">0.16</td><td char=".">0.07</td><td char=".">0.03</td><td char=".">0.03</td><td char=".">0.01</td></tr><tr><td>Two or more races</td><td char=".">0.03</td><td char=".">0.05</td><td char=".">0.03</td><td char=".">0.04</td><td char=".">0.04</td><td char=".">0.01</td></tr><tr><td>Eco-dis</td><td char=".">0.24</td><td char=".">0.34</td><td char=".">0.56</td><td char=".">0.49</td><td char=".">0.49</td><td char=".">0.85</td></tr><tr><td>Urbanicity </td><td>Large City </td><td>Large Suburb</td><td>Large City</td><td>Midsize City</td><td>Midsize City</td><td>Large City</td></tr><tr><td>Enrollment</td><td char=".">30,000</td><td char=".">50,000</td><td char=".">40,000</td><td char=".">30,000</td><td char=".">30,000</td><td char=".">>120,000</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>2 <emph>Note.</emph> The mean statistics under each leader represent the average student and district demographics within the districts where each leader worked, from the 2021–2022 school year. Eco-dis is the proportion of students who are classified as economically disadvantaged. The enrollment row is student enrollment at the district level approximated as to protect the identity of each district leader. The categorical variable for Urbanicity was derived from the NCES classification criteria for K-12 districts (National Center for Education Statistics [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref54">39</reflink>]). Taylor and Cameron are leaders in the same K-12 district.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-7">Findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0186082082-8">Quantitative findings: demographics of HS GYO students</hd> <p>The purpose of this study was first to describe the demographic characteristics of the students enrolled in HS GYO courses—to measure access to HS GYO teacher pathways for a more ethnoracially diverse group of prospective educators. As shown in Figure 1, around 45% of students enrolled in HS GYO programs in the DFW-area were Latinx, 27% were white, 21% were Black, three percent were Asian, and one percent identified as multiracial. Thus, greater than 70% of DFW-area students enrolled in HS GYO programs were students of Color. When comparing the DFW-area to statewide enrollments, a larger proportion of Latinx and white students enrolled in HS GYO courses statewide, whereas the proportion of enrollment was smaller for Black students. Similar to the DFW-area, at the statewide level students of Color represented around 70% of enrollments in HS GYO programs. Interestingly, both DFW-area and statewide enrollments in HS GYO programs were representative of general student enrollment demographics statewide. In 2022–2023, the general Texas public school student population consisted of around 53% of students who were Latinx, accounting for the largest percentage of total enrollment, followed by 26% who were white, 13% who were African American, 5% who were Asian, and 3% who were multiracial students (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref55">57</reflink>]).</p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 1. Comparing the demographics of HS GYO course enrollments to teachers (2021–2022). Note. The statewide sample included 149,542 students and the DFW sample included 37,369 students. For teacher demographics we referenced public state agency reporting (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref56">56</reflink>]).</p> <p>In Figure 1, our results show a stark difference in the ethnoracial characteristics for Texas K-12 teachers, compared to HS GYO enrollments. Both the DFW-area and statewide HS GYO enrollments were distinctly more ethnoracially diverse than the statewide K-12 teaching workforce—where only 40% of teachers were teachers of Color. This gap in ethnoracial representation is partly explained by research showing that the K-12 teacher workforce nationally, and in Texas, includes many older, more experienced, and mid-career/veteran teachers who are more likely to be white (Ingersoll et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref57">30</reflink>]). In light of this representation gap, our quantitative results, demonstrating high levels of ethnoracial diversity amongst students enrolled in HS GYO programs imply that these programs offer a promising teacher recruitment and training solution to the problematic lack of diversity in the current teacher workforce (Redding [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref58">41</reflink>]). Further, the demographic trends we present here align with other prior research confirming the shifting ethnoracial diversity of younger generations of Texas residents, especially those in the DFW-area (Edwards [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref59">18</reflink>]; Wan et al. [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref60">61</reflink>]). As high school and college-aged student cohorts progress through the educational system, the teacher workforce continues to shift and become more ethnoracially diverse.</p> <p>These shifts are promising, yet our results also suggest persistent barriers between the high school and workforce pathway preventing higher rates of ethnoracial diversity within the DFW-area and statewide workforce (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref61">54</reflink>]). For example, research suggests that teacher certification exams are a gatekeeper, placing an undue burden on teacher candidates of Color (Carter Andrews et al. [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref62">6</reflink>]). Also, a lack of flexibility in teacher preparation programs, high cost of tuition and admission (Slanda and Lachlan [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref63">50</reflink>]), as well as curriculum that is not inclusive of multiple ethnoracial backgrounds and perspectives (Kohli and Pizarro [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref64">33</reflink>]), all serve as other reasons why high GYO enrollment amongst students of color has not translated to a more diverse teacher workforce.</p> <p>In summary, despite the increasing ethnoracial diversity evident in student HS GYO program enrollments that we demonstrate, it is important to explore other reasons why white teachers remain overrepresented in the state teacher workforce, and in the DFW-area workforce where white teachers represented 27% of the workforce and white students represented only 6% of all K-12 enrollments (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref65">54</reflink>]). These quantitative demographic statistics provide a useful backdrop and context for the second part of our analysis outlined below. The demographic trends in HS GYO course enrollments represent an opportunity for educational leaders to expose more ethnoracially diverse cohorts of students to a teaching career. However, as our interview data indicated, district leaders face waning student interest in teaching as a career and a complicated web of program implementation challenges—both of which could partially explain the aforementioned representation gap between students and teachers.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-9">Qualitative findings: implementation</hd> <p>A secondary purpose of our investigation was to better understand how K-12 district leaders described HS GYO implementation efforts. We chose two overarching themes to summarize their perception of the implementation process: <emph>marketing the profession/building pathways,</emph> and <emph>complex cross-sector partnerships</emph>.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-10">Marketing the profession and building pathways</hd> <p>A diminished view of teaching as a career choice presented a challenge for district leaders, who reported spending more time marketing the profession than they anticipated. According to Logan, a district-level director of CTE programs, the community perception of the teacher workforce has impacted students' interest in taking education and training courses, which influences how district leaders advertise HS GYO programs: "Our biggest obstacle, obviously, is community perception." Erin, a district-level director of planning, questioned, "How can you talk someone into being a teacher when it's barely a livable wage?" Alex, a district-level administrator of CTE programs expressed,</p> <p>Sometimes you run into teachers that honestly talk down about their own profession that don't understand really like how it could be beneficial for some students. So it's kind of reframing how they look at education and what that education can be.</p> <p>Riley, an educational leader who is a district-level coordinator of partnerships mentioned that promoting the program involves, "trying to find ways to make teaching seem desirable." Riley also mentioned using personal interaction as a marketing technique: "I do know that the marketing has increased. We have people go in and speak to students." Overall, the participants shared that early marketing strategies are helping enrollments. Despite the challenges they faced in the context of a declining public perception of teaching as a profession (Edwards and Magill [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref66">20</reflink>]; Vail [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref67">59</reflink>]), six leaders shared the importance of HS GYO programs in establishing pathways and providing accessibility to the teaching profession for career-interested high school students. Erin shared: "it is giving our students a view into a future career and potentially helping them start their pathway before they graduate from high school."</p> <p>Riley further noted, "I think these programs are really necessary to provide pathways, you know, for these future educators and to really increase the interest in teaching." She also mentioned a challenge regarding students remaining on the teaching pathway. High school students might decide teaching as a career is not the best fit for them when provided with increased accessibility to HS GYO courses and programming. She said, "not all students in the education pathway want to be teachers." Yet, for the students who do not complete the HS GYO program, the early exposure they received could pay dividends later if they are one of the growing number of teachers who enter the profession as mid-career changers from another job sector (Castro and Bauml [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref68">9</reflink>]; Siostrom, Mills, and Bourke [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref69">49</reflink>]).</p> <p>Our results suggest that this increased accessibility does provide early exposure to the teaching profession, which could lead to workforce entry for students who find that HS GYO programs are a pathway aligned with their career goals. This finding is useful, in light of the evidence that early exposure to the teaching profession could increase levels of respect and empathy for teachers and the profession at large (Kraemer-Holland [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref70">34</reflink>]). Alex shared the importance of giving high school students space to experience what a teaching career might look like:</p> <p>So important that we can at an early level have them do these interactions and decide, hey? Maybe that is for me...And they [students] have that intrinsic want to make things better...We really want to be able to think that they could see themselves in those shoes.</p> <p>In summary, across leaders there was an emphasis on the crucial role of HS GYO programs in establishing pathways and providing accessibility to the teaching profession for high school students, despite challenges such as negative community perceptions and the need for effective marketing strategies. The early exposure to the profession could increase overall respect for teachers, influence potential mid-career changes into education, and provide the opportunity for students to explore whether teaching aligns with their career goals.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-11">Complex cross-sector partnerships</hd> <p>Leaders reported that maintaining cross-sector partnerships were valuable, but they required time consuming communication and complex organizational work. Alex shared, "It's taken a lot of coordination... a lot of people [and] moving parts to get the first year going." Communicating across institutions which have varied goals and bureaucratic structures was a source of frustration for the leaders we interviewed. Erin regularly collaborated with a higher education partner to design HS GYO course curricula and expressed frustration around course offerings disagreement: "It's a little offensive to have to explain why we think XYZ. It is an important curriculum piece that we need our students to understand." Logan stated that "implementation has been messy," referring to the complex work of coordinating with multiple partners (community college leaders, state agency, K-12 district colleagues).</p> <p>District leaders were also overwhelmed with the administrative burden of organizing coursework for HS GYO programs and ensuring that students were enrolled in courses that would benefit them along their pathway to a teaching career. For example, Alex stated: "those little logistics they mean a lot, because one little course can throw off everything...it's been a little interesting to maneuver." Cameron mentioned that "the most challenging [was] probably all the moving pieces," referring to aligning new courses, getting approval from the district curriculum office, and ensuring that qualified teachers are leading each course. They went on to say:</p> <p>All the hoops you have to jump through...having to approve it through our curriculum and instruction department. Having then to approve it through our Dual Credit department in the district, and then having to make sure that it is charted right on the course selection card for the kiddos, and then the teacher of record. Whoever is teaching it has to be employed at the end university or community college that is teaching it and then going to all those trainings.</p> <p>While the partnership implementation work was challenging, multiple participants also reflected on the unique value of having cross-sector communication where K-12 and higher education institutions can align curriculum and credentialing to better support students. For example, Riley reported:</p> <p>I think that comes as a result of things like having a committee or having these close partnerships with these universities because the universities can come to the districts and say, this is what we need for entry, right? This is what this is, what students need in order to come into our program.</p> <p>Taylor also discussed the benefit of cross-sector partnerships, in the context of connecting with professors who teach education courses at the collegiate level: "I have talked with those particular teachers who are teaching those subjects, and that partnership has really been really great to really pick university professors that understand high school students." When district leaders were asked about additional support needed to keep these connections going, and in the context of the current challenges they faced, many pointed to a need for more funding—-specifically funds to hire more staff needed to communicate with the various partners involved in the implementation work. Our results suggest that although the state provided initial funding and technical support to get HS GYO programs started (Texas Education Agency [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref71">55</reflink>]), more sustainable funding is needed from state leaders to keep HS GYO programs going in future school years.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-12">Implications and significance</hd> <p>In this study we set out to provide new evidence about students enrolled in HS GYO programs, and to better understand the perspectives of district-level leaders tasked with organizing and implementing such programs. Our results offer key implications relevant to high school administrators and district leaders considering GYO programs, educational policymakers tasked with designing similar programs, and future teachers. First, we found that high school students enrolled in GYO courses were approximately representative in terms of race/ethnicity compared to general student enrollments statewide. However, we found that HS GYO students were more ethnoracially diverse compared to the current state teacher workforce. This result was apparent in our descriptive quantitative analysis at the state level and for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex region. Secondly, our results indicate that the implementation of HS GYO programs was influenced by the current diminished public perception of teaching as a career, whereby leaders of these programs felt the need to market the profession to increase and maintain student enrollments. Finally, our results describe the cross-sector partnerships between K-12 and higher education leaders as rewarding but complicated and labor intensive (Ledoux and McHenry [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref72">35</reflink>]; Strawn, Fox, and Duck [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref73">53</reflink>]).</p> <p>We found that HS GYO programs offer exposure to a teaching career for students who are more ethnoracially diverse than the current teacher workforce. Considering the line of research showing how student-teacher ethnoracial matching can improve academic, social, and behavioral student outcomes (Dee [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref74">15</reflink>]; Egalite, Kisida, and Winters [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref75">22</reflink>]), this result suggests that HS GYO programs could contribute to a more representative teacher workforce. Results from a handful of studies suggest that similar programs are increasing the ethnoracial diversity in applicant pools and new hires (Blazar et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref76">4</reflink>]; Redding [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref77">41</reflink>]). Related research also demonstrates that novice teachers who graduated from the district where they find employment have higher retention rates (Edwards et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref78">17</reflink>]). Our results extend the research in this area, as we analyzed student enrollment data across multiple district-level programs and for an entire state.</p> <p>However, educational leaders should also consider the set of recent studies suggesting that along the various stepping stones to the classroom the diversity of prospective teacher cohorts fades for reasons such as ethnoracial disparities in certification exam passage rates (Carter Andrews et al. [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref79">6</reflink>]), marginalizing curricula in college/university-based teacher preparation spaces (Kohli and Pizarro [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref80">33</reflink>]), and decisions by students of Color to pursue careers with more financial return (Redding and Baker [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref81">42</reflink>]). In terms of policy, we suggest that educational leaders and policymakers build in more robust systems of mentorship and support for high school students as they leave the program, enter higher education, navigate credentialing, and enter the workforce (Samuels, Wilkerson, and Dacres [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref82">45</reflink>]; Watkins [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref83">62</reflink>]).</p> <p>Increasing mentoring and support for HS GYO students as they strive for a teaching position would also help address the implementation challenges faced by K-12 district leaders (Spooner et al. [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref84">52</reflink>]). Many of the leaders interviewed discussed the dilemma of declining student interest in teaching as a profession. Most of the leaders running HS GYO programs had small teams with one or two grant-funded staff members. Future policies should increase funding for HS GYO implementation and allocate sustained funds for staff who can mentor and support students along the pathway, allowing the district leaders to focus more on streamlining coursework and credential alignment, while also building up more effective student program recruitment strategies. Similarly, as a policy and practice suggestion, we advise that both university and district leaders involved in implementing HS GYO programs utilize existing best practice research related to cross-sector collaborations in the public education sector (Edwards et al. [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref85">21</reflink>]; Orr et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref86">40</reflink>]).</p> <p>Our results also offer implications for future research. While many HS GYO programs to date are in the early implementation phase, there are advantages to monitoring long-term outcomes of building pathways to the teaching profession (Song et al. [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref87">51</reflink>]). The extant literature provides limited evidence of the long-term success of HS GYO programs in terms of leading students all the way to employment back in their home district. While our research questions did not include this as a component of our investigation, our findings related to student enrollment in HS GYO programs and district leaders' implementation efforts imply the need for more longitudinal outcome evidence demonstrating success rates. One limitation of our study was that our sample did not include any leaders from rural or town contexts. We suggest that future research target these areas as they often experience the most acute teacher shortage issues (Gelber [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref88">26</reflink>]). Policies and new funding lines are needed to support program evaluations that track HS GYO graduates who become teachers—investigating outcomes such as retention rates and student achievement outcomes. National and state-level policymakers can leverage their platforms and resources to promote HS GYO programs as a community-based strategy for diversifying the teacher workforce (Gist, Bianco, and Lynn [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref89">28</reflink>]). In addition to the call for more implementation funding, we encourage policymakers to advocate for funding to support marketing and recruitment efforts to sustain enrollment in HS GYO programs.</p> <p>While there is variation in HS GYO program implementation, the model could be useful for increasing the ethnoracial diversity of the teacher workforce and providing early exposure to the teaching profession for high school students. Leaders of successful HS GYO programs forge partnerships between organizations across sectors (higher education institutions, K-12 districts, teacher preparation programs) to better prepare educators from the community for the community (Garcia [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref90">24</reflink>]). Educational leaders and policymakers should prioritize fostering these collaborative efforts to ensure that HS GYO programs continue to meet the evolving needs of both students and school communities.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-13">Acknowledgments</hd> <p>We gratefully acknowledge support for this work from the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas.</p> <hd id="AN0186082082-14">Disclosure statement</hd> <p>No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).</p> <ref id="AN0186082082-15"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref29" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Achinstein, B., R. T. Ogawa, D. Sexton, and C. Freitas. 2010. Retaining teachers of color: A pressing problem and a potential strategy for "hard-to-staff" schools. Review of Educational Research 80 (1): 71 – 107. doi: 10.3102/0034654309355994.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref1" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Bacher-Hicks, A., O. L. Chi, and A. Orellana. 2023. Two years later: How COVID-19 has shaped the teacher workforce. Educational Researcher (Washington, D.C.: 1972) 52 (4): 219 – 29. doi: 10.3102/0013189X231153659.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref3" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Bastian, K. C., and S. C. Fuller. 2022. Teacher and principal attrition during the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina: Updated Analyses for the 2021–22 School Year. Chapel Hill, NC : Education Policy Initiative at Carolina.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref11" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Blazar, D., W. Gao, S. Gershenson, R. Goings, and F. Lagos. 2024. Do grow-your-own programs work? Evidence from the teacher academy of Maryland. (EdWorkingPaper: 24–958). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University. doi: 10.26300/bmh4-4p12.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" idref="ref42" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Cameron, R. 2024. A snapshot of inter-methodology mixing: The intersection, integration and merging of methodologies. Journal of Mixed Methods Research 18 (3): 281 – 91. doi: 10.1177/15586898241255221.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" idref="ref62" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> Carter Andrews, D. J., E. Castro, C. L. Cho, E. Petchauer, G. Richmond, and R. Floden. 2019. Changing the narrative on diversifying the teaching workforce: A look at historical and contemporary factors that inform recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Journal of Teacher Education 70 (1): 6 – 12. doi: 10.1177/0022487118812418.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" idref="ref46" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> Carver-Thomas, D. 2018. Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/165/download?inline&file=Di-versifying_Teaching_Profession_REPORT.pdf</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" idref="ref2" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> Castro, A. J. 2023. Managing competing demands in a teacher shortage context: The impact of teacher shortages on principal leadership practices. Educational Administration Quarterly 59 (1): 218 – 50. doi: 10.1177/0013161X221140849.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib9" idref="ref68" type="bt">9</bibl> <bibtext> Castro, A. J., and M. Bauml. 2009. Why now? Factors associated with choosing teaching as a second career and their implications for teacher education programs. Teacher Education Quarterly 36 (3): 113 – 26. <ulink href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/23479192">http://www.jstor.org/stable/23479192</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Cochran-Smith, M. 2021. Rethinking teacher education: The trouble with accountability. Oxford Review of Education 47 (1): 8 – 24. doi: 10.1080/03054985.2020.1842181.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Coffey, H., S. M. Putman, L. K. Handler, and W. Leach. 2019. Growing them early: Recruiting and preparing future urban teachers through an early college collaboration between a college of education and an urban school district. Teacher Education Quarterly 46 (1): 35 – 54.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Cook, L. D., and V. J. Kamalodeen. 2023. Intersection of mixed methods and case study research (MM+CSR): Two design options in educational research. In The sage handbook of mixed methods research design, ed. C. N. Poth, 267 – 77. London, UK: Sage.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Creswell, J. W., and V. L. P. Clark. 2017. Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Curci, J. D., J. M. Johnson, A. T. Gabbadon, and E. Wetzel-Ulrich. 2023. Expanding the pipeline to teach: Recruiting future urban teachers of color through a dual enrollment program. The Urban Review 55 (2): 224 – 43. doi: 10.1007/s11256-022-00646-1.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dee, T. S. 2004. Teachers, race, and student achievement in a randomized experiment. Review of Economics and Statistics 86 (1): 195 – 210. doi: 10.1162/003465304323023750.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edmunds, J., F. Unlu, B. Phillips, C. Mulhern, and B. C. Hutchins. 2023. CTE-focused dual enrollment: Participation and outcomes. Education Finance and Policy 1 (1): 1 – 22. doi: 10.26300/03wk-r054.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edwards, W., J. J. Kirksey, K. Q. Burden, and A. Miller. 2024. Teaching close to home: Exploring new teachers' geographic employment patterns and retention outcomes. Teaching and Teacher Education 145 : 104606 10.1016/j.tate.2024.104606.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edwards, W. 2020. Retention and mobility patterns for teachers of color in Texas: Examining variation by teacher and campus characteristics. Policy Brief. Texas Education Research Center. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED609009.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edwards, D., and M. Kraft. 2024. Grow Your Own: An umbrella term for very different localized teacher pipeline programs (EdWorkingPapers: 24–895). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. doi: 10.26300/0s8x-c050.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edwards, W, and K. R. Magill. 2022. Rethinking the educational ecology in the wake of COVID: Intellectual solidarity, teacher prestige, and educational humanization. Policy Futures in Education 21 (2): 220 – 38. 10.1177/14782103221101762.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edwards, W., C. Sikes, and A. Venezia. 2019. Policy brief: P‑12 Leadership and University Partnerships. Charlottesville, VA: University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). https://<ulink href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/371207186%5fP‑12%5fLeadership%5fand%5fUniversity%5fPartnerships">www.researchgate.net/publication/371207186%5fP‑12%5fLeadership%5fand%5fUniversity%5fPartnerships</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Egalite, A. J., B. Kisida, and M. A. Winters. 2015. Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review 45 : 44 – 52. doi: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Fortner, C. K., D. C. Kershaw, K. C. Bastian, and H. H. Lynn. 2015. Learning by doing: The characteristics, effectiveness, and persistence of teachers who were teaching assistants first. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education 117 (11): 1 – 30. doi: 10.1177/016146811511701104.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Garcia, A. 2020. Grow Your Own teachers: A 50-state scan of policies and programs. New America. https://<ulink href="http://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/grow-your-own-teachers/">www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/grow-your-own-teachers/</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Garcia, A., A. Manuel, and M. R. Buly. 2019. Washington state policy spotlight: A multifaceted approach to Grow Your Own pathways. Teacher Education Quarterly 46 (1): 69.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gelber, S. 2022. "We are gonna miss too many of them": Rurality, race, and the history of Grow Your Own teacher programs. American Journal of Education 129 (1): 29 – 51. doi: 10.1086/721860.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gist, C. D. 2022. Shifting dominant narratives of teacher development: New directions for expanding access to educator workforce through Grow Your Own programs. Educational Researcher 51 (1): 51 – 57. doi: 10.3102/0013189X211049762.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gist, C. D., M. Bianco, and M. Lynn. 2019. Examining Grow Your Own programs across the teacher development continuum: Mining research on teachers of color and nontraditional educator pipelines. Journal of Teacher Education 70 (1): 13 – 25. doi: 10.1177/0022487118787504.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gist, C. D., W. Edwards, A. Garcia, A.L. Brown, and K. Brown. 2024. Glancing back and looking forward: The role of education policy in creating pathways to the workforce for Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives 32. doi: 10.14507/epaa.32.8552.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ingersoll, R., E. Merrill, D. Stuckey, G. Collins, and B. Harrison. 2021. The demographic transformation of the teaching force in the United States. Education Sciences 11 (5): 234. doi: 10.3390/educsci11050234.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Jackson, N., and D. Wake. 2022. Exploring the impact of a Grow Your Own teachers program. Research Issues in Contemporary Education 7 (1): 109 – 35.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Kaufman, J. H., B. K. Master, A. Huguet, P. Y. Too, S. Faxon-Mills, D. Schulker, and G. E. Grimm. 2020. Growing teachers from within: Implementation, impact, and cost of an alternative teacher preparation program in three urban school districts. Rand Corporation. doi: 10.7249/RRA256-1.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Kohli, R., and M. Pizarro. 2022. The layered toll of racism in teacher education on teacher educators of color. AERA Open 8 : 23328584221078538. doi: 10.1177/23328584221078538.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Kraemer-Holland, A. 2021. Skepticism, gratitude, and the neoliberal narrative: TFA teachers' conceptualization of occupational stature. Action in Teacher Education 43 (4): 430 – 46. doi: 10.1080/01626620.2020.1825239.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ledoux, M. W., and N. McHenry. 2008. Pitfalls of school-university partnerships. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, Issues and Ideas 81 (4): 155 – 60. doi: 10.3200/TCHS.81.4.155-160.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Loeb, S., S. Dynarski, D. McFarland, P. Morris, S. Reardon, and S. Reber. 2017. Descriptive analysis in education: A guide for researchers (No. NCEE 2017-4023). Washington, DC : National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573325.pdf.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Martinez, M. A., J. C. Enyioha, J. G. Marquez, and A. M. Baker. 2024. "I get emotional about it": Teachers' (com)passion in college-going efforts at three urban high Schools. Urban Education 59 (6): 1905 – 34. doi: 10.1177/00420859221089544.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Miles, J. M., and M. A. Huberman. 1994. Qualitative data analysis. 2nd ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Center for Education Statistics. 2023. NCES locale classifications and criteria. Washington, DC : US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/LocaleBoundaries.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Orr, M. T., B. Berg, R. Shore, and E. Meier. 2008. Putting the pieces together: Leadership for change in low-performing urban schools. Education and Urban Society 40 (6): 670 – 93. doi: 10.1177/0013124508324018.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Redding, C. 2022. Are homegrown teachers who graduate from urban districts more racially diverse, more effective, and less likely to exit teaching? American Educational Research Journal 59 (5): 939 – 74. doi: 10.3102/00028312221078018.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Redding, C., and D. J. Baker. 2019. Understanding racial/ethnic diversity gaps among early career teachers. AERA Open 5 (2): 2332858419848440. doi: 10.1177/2332858419848440.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Roberson, S., and R. Roberson. 2009. The role and practice of the principal in developing novice first-year teachers. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 82 (3): 113 – 18. doi: 10.3200/TCHS.82.3.113-118.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ross, F., and A. Ahmed. 2016. Fostering globalism: Community partnership to Grow Your Own teachers. In Diversifying the teaching force in transnational contexts: Critical perspectives, ed. C. Schmidt and J. Schneider, 73 – 86. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Samuels, S., A. Wilkerson, and S. Dacres. 2021. Why they struggle to stay: Black women educators reflect on the state of teachers. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 94 (3): 137 – 50. doi: 10.1080/00098655.2021.1907145.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Schreier, M. 2018. Sampling and generalization. In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection, 84 – 97. London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781526416070.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Schultz, B., M. Gillette, and D. Hill. 2011. Teaching as political: Theoretical perspectives for understanding the Grow Your Own movement. In Grow your own teachers: Grassroots change for teacher education, ed. E. Skinner, M. Garreton, and B. Schultz, 5 – 21. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See, B. H., R. Morris, S. Gorard, D. Kokotsaki, and S. Abdi. 2020. Teacher recruitment and retention: A critical review of international evidence of most promising interventions. Education Sciences 10 (10): 262. doi: 10.3390/educsci10100262.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Siostrom, E., R. Mills, and T. Bourke. 2023. A scoping review of factors that influence career changers' motivations and decisions when considering teaching. Teachers and Teaching 29 (7–8): 850 – 69. doi: 10.1080/13540602.2023.2208051.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Slanda, D., and L. Lachlan. 2023. The rising cost of becoming an educator: Reimagining pathways into the profession with affordable, cost-effective, and responsive solutions. Center on Great Teachers and Leaders. https://<ulink href="http://www.air.org/resource/brief/rising-cost-becoming-educator-reimagining-pathways-profession-affordable-cost">www.air.org/resource/brief/rising-cost-becoming-educator-reimagining-pathways-profession-affordable-cost</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Song, M., K. Zeiser, D. Atchison, and I. Brodziak de los Reyes. 2021. Early college, continued success: Longer-term impact of early college high schools. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 14 (1): 116 – 42. doi: 10.1080/19345747.2020.1862374.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Spooner, M., C. Flowers, R. Lambert, and B. Algozzine. 2008. Is more really better? Examining perceived benefits of an extended student teaching experience. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 81 (6): 263 – 70. doi: 10.3200/TCHS.81.6.263-270.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Strawn, C. A., R. K. Fox, and L. Duck. 2008. Preventing teacher failure: Six keys to success in moving beyond the "sink or swim" mentality. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 81 (6): 271 – 77. doi: 10.3200/TCHS.81.6.271-277.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Texas Education Agency. 2022a. Texas academic performance report (TAPR). https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/perfreport/tapr/2022/index.html</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Texas Education Agency. 2022b. TCLAS Decision 4: Grow Your Own Grant, Cycle 5 (2021–2024). Educator Initiatives. https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/tclas-decision4-cycle5-gyo-list.pdf.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Texas Education Agency. 2023a. Pocket edition: 2021–22 Texas public school statistics. https://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/news-and-multimedia/brochures/pocket-edition</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Texas Education Agency. 2023b. Division of research and analysis office of operations. https://tea.texas.gov/reports-and-data/school-performance/accountability-research/enroll-2022-23.pdf</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Texas Education Agency. 2024. CTE programs of study. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/college-career-and-military-prep/career-and-technical-education/cte-programs-of-study</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Vail, K. 2024. Public opinion and the teaching profession. Phi Delta Kappan 106 (1): 20 – 23. doi: 10.1177/00317217241282191.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Valenzuela, A. 2017. Grow your own educator programs: A review of the literature with an emphasis on equity-based approaches. Equity Assistance Center Region II, Intercultural Development Research Association. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED582731.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Wan, Y., M. Joshi, E. Barkowski, J. Zacamy, C. Nardi, L. Lin, and V. Lazarev. 2022. Early progress and outcomes of a Grow Your Own grant program for high school students and paraprofessionals in Texas (REL 2023–141). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/Products/Publication/100848.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Watkins, P. 2005. The principal's role in attracting, retaining, and developing new teachers: Three strategies for collaboration and support. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 79 (2): 83 – 87. doi: 10.3200/TCHS.79.2.83-87.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0186082082-16"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> Observations were at the student level and pooled across grade-levels. Individual students did appear multiple times in our analytic file, but only if they took more than one HS GYO course (e.g., Principles of Human Development in 10th grade and Child Development in 11th grade).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Two of the leaders worked in the same district but held distinct roles within the implementation process (interviewees Taylor and Cameron).</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Wesley Edwards; Alexis Miller and Kafarra Q. L. Burden</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib60" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib58" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib61" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib55" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref52"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref53"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib57" firstref="ref55"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib56" firstref="ref56"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib54" firstref="ref61"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref64"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref66"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib59" firstref="ref67"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl45" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref70"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl46" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref74"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl47" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref75"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl48" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref81"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl49" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref82"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl50" bibid="bib62" firstref="ref83"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl51" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref84"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl52" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref86"></nolink>
Header DbId: eric
DbLabel: ERIC
An: EJ1506787
AccessLevel: 3
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Marketing the Profession: Educational Leaders' Perspectives on the Implementation of High School Grow-Your-Own Teacher Programs
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wesley+Edwards%22">Wesley Edwards</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9221-6260">0000-0001-9221-6260</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Alexis+Miller%22">Alexis Miller</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kafarra+Q%2E+L%2E+Burden%22">Kafarra Q. L. Burden</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Clearing+House%3A+A+Journal+of+Educational+Strategies%2C+Issues+and+Ideas%22"><i>Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas</i></searchLink>. 2025 98(3):117-128.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 12
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22High+Schools%22">High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+School+Students%22">High School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethnic+Diversity%22">Ethnic Diversity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Diversity%22">Student Diversity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Diversity+%28Faculty%29%22">Diversity (Faculty)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+School+Teachers%22">High School Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Education+Programs%22">Teacher Education Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Minority+Group+Teachers%22">Minority Group Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+%28Occupation%29%22">Teaching (Occupation)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Career+Choice%22">Career Choice</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Characteristics%22">Student Characteristics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Career+Pathways%22">Career Pathways</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Administrator+Attitudes%22">Administrator Attitudes</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Texas%22">Texas</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1080/00098655.2025.2511959
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0009-8655<br />1939-912X
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: In this study we used a mixed-methods research design to investigate high school Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher preparation programs. Findings indicate that high school students enrolled in GYO programs were more ethnoracially diverse than the current teacher workforce. Interviews with district leaders tasked with implementation of high school GYO programs illustrate challenges in marketing teaching as a profession due to concerns about workload, pay, and public perceptions of teachers. Implications for district leaders, high school administrators, and policymakers include the need for increased mentorship and support systems for students transitioning from GYO programs to teaching positions, as well as sustained funding for program implementation and recruitment strategies. Our findings underscore the potential of high school GYO programs in diversifying the teacher workforce and providing early exposure to the teaching profession, while emphasizing the need for long-term outcome monitoring and evaluation.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1506787
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1506787
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/00098655.2025.2511959
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 12
        StartPage: 117
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: High School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ethnic Diversity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Diversity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Diversity (Faculty)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: High School Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teacher Education Programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Minority Group Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching (Occupation)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Career Choice
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Characteristics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Career Pathways
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Administrator Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Texas
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Marketing the Profession: Educational Leaders' Perspectives on the Implementation of High School Grow-Your-Own Teacher Programs
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Wesley Edwards
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Alexis Miller
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Kafarra Q. L. Burden
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0009-8655
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1939-912X
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 98
            – Type: issue
              Value: 3
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas
              Type: main
ResultId 1