TEA awards ‘Grow Your Own’ grants

Commissioner of Education Mike Morath announced Wednesday that 25 school districts, universities and education service centers have been awarded a Texas Education Agency 2018-2019 Grow Your Own grant.

Local districts awarded the funds were Fort Stockton and Midland ISD, a TEA news release stated.

Grow Your Own grants will be used to encourage high school students to consider teaching as a career, as well as paraprofessionals and/or teacher aides to pursue certification. The grant will also assist grant recipients in providing support to student teachers during their year-long clinical teaching, the release said.

“The goal of Grow Your Own is to help increase the quality and diversity of our teaching force, especially in small and rural school districts,” Morath said in the release. “This initiative comes as a direct result of recent work from our Texas Rural Schools Task Force, whose members identified this priority issue and presented a strong recommendation to address it.”

Created by Morath in 2016, the Texas Rural Schools Task Force was charged with identifying current challenges and best practices for the state’s rural school districts.

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