The idea of the Community Teachers program is to recruit high school students who want to be teachers, pay their tuition, then offer them jobs back in their home districts, although they aren’t required to work there.
Fifteen Grand Rapids Public School students make up the pilot program starting this month.
“There are a lot of students that want to become teachers that maybe feel they’re not able to do it for a variety of reasons. There’s a lot of different barriers we’re trying to reduce and make the pathway more streamlined for these students who want to become teachers.”
Kimberly Arsenault is the director of the Grand Rapids program and an associate professor at Michigan State University.
She says the students apply for the program their junior year and if accepted begin taking entry level dual enrollment classes their senior year.
After graduation they can go to MSU or attend Grand Rapids Community College first and transfer, with all tuition paid for by a donor.
"We also have a lot of additional support in place to help these students. So they’ll be meeting with graduate students and professors to help them in their high school track and also when they get to MSU.”
Arsenault says the GRPS pilot program will be the model for future collaborations across Michigan.
