Benefits for school divisions

“Grow-your-own” (GYO) programs like TfT help school divisions meet the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention.  Grow-your-own programs have proven to be particularly effective in rural communities and in recruiting a diverse pool of prospective teachers.

Longwood is working collaboratively with K-12 school divisions and VCCS Institutions to allow students from southside Virginia and across the Commonwealth to explore education careers. TfT students also work with local elementary teachers to offer additional instructional support and mentoring for younger students.  

TfT is aligned with the VDOE’s Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and the Career Clusters pathways through which secondary students investigate careers through focused courses of study. 

When fully implemented in a school division, GYO programs like Teachers for Tomorrow can;

• create a source of qualified teacher candidates in critical shortage areas and hard-to-staff regions or school divisions
• increase the diversity of applicants through allowing divisions more involvement in the “intake” stages of teacher preparation.     
• promote the hiring of local teacher candidates, who are more likely to remain with the division, thereby improving retention