As noted in Mississippi’s Consolidated State Plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the Mississippi State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) understands the importance and urgency of addressing teacher workforce disparities in the state. In both state plans, teacher pipeline concerns are addressed and viewed through the lens of effectiveness.
In accordance with Goal 4: Every Student has Effective Teachers and Leaders, in the Mississippi State Board of Education’s 5-Year Strategic Plan, the MDE is committed to reducing, and ultimately eliminating, the disproportionalities existing in districts experiencing critical teacher shortages.
Therefore, to ensure access to effective teachers for all students the MDE convened a task force to explore Grow-Your-Own (GYO) strategies that could positively impact teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention in Mississippi’s hard-to-staff school districts.
In April 2019, the MDE released the GYO Teacher Task Force Report outlining recommendations for MDE, legislators, Community Colleges, public Institutions of Higher Learning, private colleges and universities, and local school districts. These recommendations include strategies to strengthen the teacher workforce pipeline and target three groups:
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The Mississippi Grow-Your-Own Teacher Task Force Report also contains a review of relevant literature and a lengthy reference list of helpful resources for stakeholders interested in reading more about other states’ experiences with GYO initiatives and the root causes contributing to some students’ lack of equitable access to effective teachers.
Click on the report cover to read the full text. |
