Grow Your Own Scholarship Application

Position Type:

Paraprofessional Job Families

Date Posted:

2025-01-27

Location:Administration or As Assigned

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT AND MISSION

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) serves approximately 37,000 students in 100+ schools. Over the past several years, the Greater Cleveland community has united behind the collective goal of ensuring every child in Cleveland attends a high-quality school and every neighborhood has a multitude of great schools from which families can choose. The Cleveland Plan defines CMSD’s approach to the reinvention of public education and holds our community accountable for the success of Cleveland’s schoolchildren. The Cleveland Plan is supported by Ohio House Bill 525, which provides much-needed flexibility and autonomy for the district and its schools. Our schools have autonomy over human and financial resources in exchange for accountability for

performance. The principal has primary responsibility and accountability for establishing his or her school as a high-quality, high-expectations academic center with a focus on personalized instruction, professional support for teachers, and school-wide practices that lead to measurable results.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has developed standards of excellence that the district applies to all parts of the organization inclusive of schools, principals, school leadership teams, networks, and central office. Alignment between Standards of Excellence (SoE) and the district’s Theory of Action helps ensure that principals are able to focus on scholar achievement and that central office supports are timely and effective.

Our Vision for Learning in a Post-Pandemic World:

In our pursuit of a more fair, just, and good system of education, we want each of our learners, both each of our scholars and each of their educators, to be individually and collectively presented with academically / intellectually complex tasks that are worthy of their productive struggle and allow them authentic opportunities to demonstrate their work and their learning of academic content and transferable skills in a joyful and adventurous environment.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

 

Overview
The Grow Your Own Teacher Scholarship Program is designed to help school districts across Ohio recruit their own students and staff to become teachers within the district. Recipients of the Grow Your Own Scholarship agree to teach for a minimum of four years at their home school district in exchange for a scholarship of up to $7,500/year for four years.

Application periods will be set by the Ohio Department of Higher Education as funding is available. Leadership staff at qualifying schools are expected to pro-actively recruit their own students and employees to participate in this program. Each school district interested in participating in the Ohio GYO Teacher Scholarship Program must attest that it has difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified classroom teachers.

The scholarship application will be open to the following:

• Individuals employed (full-time or part-time) at a qualifying school district
• Qualifying high school seniors meaning students who are currently enrolled in the 12th grade and for whom either of the following is true:
  • The student has a Student Aid Index (SAI) of 25,000 or less. Please note, the only way to get this number is to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and we suggest all applicants do this as soon as possible.
  • The student will graduate from a secondary school in a qualifying school district, where at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the students are eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch.

As part of the application, the district in which GYO Scholarship applicants are employed or enrolled must attest to an intent to hire the GYO Scholarship recipient as a teacher after his or her graduation and licensure.

Ohio’s Grow Your Own Teacher Scholarship Program is authorize