Collaborative Grow Your Own Partnerships to Address Persistent Teacher Shortages and Remove Barriers to Becoming a Special Educator

Authors

  • L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan University of St Thomas
  • Shelley Neilsen Gatti University of St. Thomas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33043/JOSEP.3.2.38-53

Keywords:

Grow your own, teacher preparation, residency, school partnerships, preservice teachers

Abstract

This article provides an overview of two innovative “Grow your Own” (GYO) pathways to teacher preparation. These pathways include authentic partnerships between an institute of higher education (IHE) and school districts, who actively plan and work together to recruit, prepare, and retain special educators. These pathways specifically focus on addressing teacher shortages, increasing the diversity of the educator workforce, and preparing educators through a social justice lens. The IHE and school district collaboration remove siloed practices to reach potential candidates who have a passion for teaching and social justice but who have previously lacked a pathway to enter the profession.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan, University of St Thomas

L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota where she coordinates the autism and developmental disabilities programs. She is the parent of an adult son with autism. She earned her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she studied urban education, focusing on exceptional education. She is on the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) board. She is an author on numerous publications including Do-Watch-Listen-Say: Social and Communication Skills for Autism Spectrum Disorder. She was honored to be awarded the Professional of the Year by the Autism Society of America. She is co-principal investigator on a Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant titled PREPARE Highly Effective Diverse and Culturally Relevant Educators through Residency Pathways and an Office of Special Education Personnel Preparation Grant focused on interdisciplinary preparation of special education teachers. She is invested in a more equitable and just society, which has led her to her interest in teacher preparation and culturally and linguistically sustaining educational practices.

Shelley Neilsen Gatti, University of St. Thomas

Shelley Neilsen Gatti Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota where she coordinates the emotional and behavioral disabilities and residency programs. She is co-principal investigator on a Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant titled PREPARE Highly Effective Diverse and Culturally Relevant Educators through Residency Pathways and Principal investigator of a number of national and local foundation grants. She completed her Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, where she studied educational psychology with a focus on special education and the prevention of behavioral disorders. She has been a long-time member of CEC, DEBH (formerly CCBD), and DEC and served on various state and national boards.  She has experience working with students with challenging behaviors in rural and urban settings. Dr. Neilsen Gatti’s areas of interest include teacher preparation pathways.

Downloads

Published

09/18/2023

How to Cite

Stansberry Brusnahan, L. L., & Neilsen Gatti, S. (2023). Collaborative Grow Your Own Partnerships to Address Persistent Teacher Shortages and Remove Barriers to Becoming a Special Educator. Journal of Special Education Preparation, 3(2), 38–53. https://doi.org/10.33043/JOSEP.3.2.38-53

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Special Issue on Teacher Shortages

License

Copyright (c) 2023 L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan, Shelley Neilsen Gatti

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.