On April 13, Dr. Elizabeth Skinner and Dr. Apryl Riley presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) 2023 annual meeting hosted in Chicago. Their paper “’There are Never Just Negatives…’: Community Immersion for Homegrown Teachers,” grew out of their ongoing research of summer programming for Teach Chicago Tomorrow (TCT) students. This research shows how Chicago-based students can participate in a community-integrated, culturally responsive teacher preparation curriculum which supports them to be better teachers and come back and teach in their home school district, Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
Announced in October 2020, TCT is an initiative launched to support CPS graduates, pursuing teaching careers, to matriculate through a higher education program and return to CPS as educators as part of the district’s goal to diversify its teaching staff. CPS graduates enroll in City College of Chicago, specifically Truman College, for their first two years, and then transfer to Illinois State University to complete an education degree in elementary education with either a bilingual or English as a second language endorsement, early childhood education, or special education without leaving the city of Chicago.
During the summer of 2022, TCT students who are on the ISU Pathways Partnership track participated in NCUE’s community immersion experience in our partner communities in Chicago. This research showcases how culturally responsive teacher preparation can be integral for success of students of color as they navigate their college program. Skinner and Riley’s initial phase of the study employed methods including participant observations, document review, surveys, and interviews. Once all the data was collected, they submitted a proposal to AERA to share their research. During the conference presentation in April, they shared the context of the ISU program, which relies on the ongoing work of the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline and its partnerships with CPS and Chicago community-based organizations, highlighting how the relationship fostered this unique “grow your own” (GYO) teacher program.
The data presented at AERA focused on the first cohort of students who began the TCT program in 2021 and participated in the first NCUE summer immersion program. Students completed a pre/post survey, daily evaluations after each session, and one-on-one interviews. Conference participants who attended the paper presentation were most intrigued with the collaborative relationship ISU NCUE has with CPS and wondered how that relationship was built. They were also impressed with this specific GYO teacher model that recruits students right out of high school to start their teacher preparation versus traditional GYO programs that focus on older adults who are career changers.
While this is only the beginning of Skinner and Riley’s research on the TCT program and its participants, they are excited to continue this journey during summer 2023 with the 2021 cohort who will take their first official ISU classes this summer and embark on the second half of their journey toward becoming CPS teachers.
