Teaching to transform: Teachers of color and the academy for future educators, a grow-your-own program

Grow-Your-Own (GYO) programs are emerging rapidly across the US to increase teacher diversity and address the infamous teacher shortages. This qualitative case study employs critical race theory to examine 16 teachers of color who participated in a GYO program and joined the teaching profession. Findings illustrate the way teachers of color resisted and navigated institutional contradictions, as they pursued social justice and were confronted by an education system that often did the opposite. This paper calls on GYO programs to prepare PK-12 educators to navigate their socio-political context, reconceptualize the future of education, and teach to transform. • This paper examines teachers of color who participated in a Grow-Your-Own program. • Grow-Your-Own programs increase teacher diversity and address teacher shortages. • Teacher diversity, without a commitment to social justice, is insufficient. • Teachers of color must traverse and resist the contradictory nature of US schooling. • Our political climate calls for increased selectivity vis-a-vis teacher recruitment.