Grow Your Own Special Education Teachers: Lessons Learned

The special education teacher shortage is felt across the US. To address this challenge, 50 states and Washington, DC, currently have some type of grow-your-own (GYO) program. These programs often are an alternate route to licensure, preparing candidates who do not have an undergraduate degree in education to become teachers. The goal of GYO programs is to prepare teachers from the community for the community, with a focus on addressing the teacher shortage and increasing the diversity of the teacher workforce. The rural institution of higher education described in this article has implemented a GYO program for seven years. Through that time, lessons have been learned to improve the program and candidate success.