Indian Prairie School District 204 hired 24 district alums as new educators this school year. And the even better news, administrators say, is a program designed to help home-grown educators come back to work where they once learned is gaining steam.
‘Impressive’ opportunities
The Grow Your Own Teachers program is entering its fourth year, providing interested students in both middle and high school with “authentic experiences” showing them what it takes to be a teacher, said Carey Beth Harry, chief human resources officer.
When the program launched during the 2020-21 COVID-affected school year, 48 students joined. Last year, Harry said, 120 students participated — and 39 of them who were high school seniors committed to study education in college.
“I just love to see the continued ‘Grow Your Own’ opportunities. It’s just really impressive,” school board member Susan Demming said during Monday’s board of education meeting. “Hopefully the numbers grow, and we’ll see more and more (alumni) back here.”
Growing students into teachers
District 204’s licensed teaching staff of roughly 2,130 educators includes 220 who are 204 graduates, Harry said. Now the district is actively encouraging more to join their ranks.
The Grow Your Own Teachers program at the middle school level includes a Teachers of Tomorrow Club as well as elementary school read-aloud opportunities and other activities for tweens and teens interested in teaching.
At the high school level, Carey said, the program involves “authentic observations” of teachers, an alumni panel, a professional development course and a career exploration experience.
Matching local populations
School board members praised the district’s human resources department for nurturing the Grow Your Own Teachers program to help not only with educator recruitment, but also with matching the cultural makeup of the teaching staff with the increasingly diverse student population.
“As our demographics change, that might be a source of more minority recruitment for alumni to decide to stay here,” school board member Justin Karubas said. Local products are going to “more reflect our demographics and are going to be the most qualified,” he added.
The 24 alums newly hired this year are among 139 new teachers recruited to teach in the district of roughly 26,000 students from parts of Aurora, Naperville, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, Harry said.
‘Portrait of an Educator’
To better define future recruiting efforts, the district also is working on a “Portrait of an Educator” project in collaboration with the national education nonprofit Battelle for Kids. The finished product will illuminate the skills and characteristics officials want to see in educators to teach future generations.
“It’s a great way for us to really tease out what it is that were looking for in our teaching candidates,” Harry said.
If you have a story idea, we want to hear from you!
