Growing Its Own: Hilliard City Schools’ Success
Hilary Sloat, Hilliard City Schools
Hilliard City Schools in Ohio has a Grow Your Own (GYO) program that supports students and educators, featuring mentorship, classroom experience, and strategic partnerships with educator prep programs.
Educator Hilary Sloat has been instrumental in creating a pipeline of future educators. The district, which has about 16,000 students, operates under the philosophy that “if you see it, you can be it.” The district has been able to build out programming to support students who are interested in becoming teachers, as well as paraprofessionals and other educators interested in making a career change.
Uplifting Educators
For the shorter-term opportunities of Grow Your Own, Hilliard has mined the possibilities of alternative licensing.
The district has successfully promoted the opportunity to paraprofessionals and supported them through the process. Additionally, Hilliard has been able to partner with classified assistants working in special education. These staff have pursued their alternative licenses and are now going to be teachers in special education classrooms.
To get the word out to all, the district makes sure to promote the opportunity in regular announcements and through committee meetings and groups of educators. This has opened up horizons for classified employees who have worked with the district for years, and new employees, to see themselves as teachers.
“Because we had one person succeed, it opened things up so others could see themselves following the alternative licensure pathway.”
Grow Your Own for Students
Hilary describes the student program as being a longer-term component of their Grow Your Own programming. “It’s a part of our 10-year plan,” she says.
Hilliard’s high school student program is called Academy EDU, and it is available to all grade 11 and 12 students interested in teaching. The class covers topics such as curriculum development, classroom management, and culturally responsive teaching. After completing the classroom portion of their learning, students shadow a teacher in a school . The district also has a program called Project EDU for 8th graders exploring educator careers.
To help bridge between grades 8 and 11, the district created a mentorship program that pairs grades 9 and 10 students of color with a teacher. The goal of the mentorship program is to give all students the opportunity to see themselves in the teaching profession. While everyone involved in the program is paired with a mentor, pairing students of color with teachers of color is a special way to mirror what can be a future possible career for every student.
Hilliard City Schools offer a model for other districts looking to bring in more educators to the teaching profession. By providing students with opportunities to see themselves as teachers, the district is helping to ensure that all students have access to a quality education with options for their futures.
