HPS is only two years away from hiring home-grown teachers. Here's how
HOLLAND — Holland Public Schools' efforts to home-grow educators is already paying off, and officials across the country are taking notice.
Representatives from the Future Educators Program at Holland High School were invited by State Superintendent Michael Rice to participate in a panel discussion at a national forum in Phoenix, Arizona, in November.
The panel included Holland High School Principal Andrea Mehall; Sarah LeFebre, who teaches Future Educators at HHS; 2024 Graduate Liebbe Martinez, who is now studying education at Hope College; and Jenni Dickens, Grow Your Own Consultant for the Michigan Department of Education.
Mehall, LeFebre and Martinez shared how Holland developed the Future Educator Program three years ago, and the success they've already seen.
“(Rice) wanted to feature people that are doing the work," Mehall told The Sentinel. "(He) reached out to Sarah and Liebbe. He wanted to feature HPS' work on a panel that was part of his presentation at this national conference.”
Martinez said it was “an amazing experience” to be invited to speak, while LeFebre said it was an honor to have a chance to “influence, or at least inform, the people who are making big decisions.”
Rice visited Holland Public Schools shortly after the district launched Future Educators. Since then, he’s asked the program to speak to the Michigan Board of Education and at various conferences.
“Holland Public Schools is representative of many school districts in Michigan that are addressing the teacher shortage by growing their own educators,” Rice wrote in a release. “I’m proud that Michigan’s successful efforts continue to attract attention nationally.”
What is the Future Educator Program?
Holland High started the Future Educator Program after receiving "Grow Your Own" grant funding from MDE. Grow Your Own assists students and paraprofessionals who aspire to be teachers.
“We were experiencing that teacher shortage," Mehall said. "We had also been working to diversify our teacher candidate pool so it can better match student demographics, because that representation is so important.
"When that grant came through, that was the spark that said, ‘The candidates we’re searching for are in our own classrooms. The teachers that we’re seeking are already here. How do we begin to grow them so that they can return back and work and serve here?’”
As the program's teacher, LeFebre combines classroom instruction with clinical experience in elementary, middle and high school classrooms. Students spend between two and four days in other district classes learning on-the-job.
“I have a framework for each of the classes, but there’s a lot of flexibility,” LeFebre said. “I’ve been given, gratefully, a ton of autonomy to make the changes I need to, and people have trusted us to do that.”
The program’s success, she said, is thanks to students buying in and support from the state, administration and fellow teachers.
'It gives me a leg-up'
Martinez joined Future Educators as a junior knowing she wanted to teach, but the experience confirmed her career plans and gave her a headstart.
“I feel like it definitely gives me a leg-up compared to my peers,” Martinez said. “A lot of discussion about things I’ve been seeing in classrooms since my junior year is brand new to some of my peers (at Hope College).”
Holland has already seen some of the employment benefits of the program, with students helping as instructional aides during the summer.
“We have a whole pool of kids that we’re not quite two years away from hiring back at Holland High School," LeFebre said. "We are going to reap the benefits of this program very soon. That’s why the state did this, so that people could train up teachers that will want to come back to their district because they love it, but they also know it. They know the demographics, they know what types of students are here.”
Mehall encourages other districts around the state to find ways to incorporate Grow Your Own, whether it’s a class during the school day, an extracurricular club or a virtual option.
“We would really encourage other districts to get involved with that work,” she said. “If other folks would like to learn from our team, we would certainly welcome site visits or invite people to connect and collaborate.”
For more information, visit hollandpublicschools.org.