Homegrown Teacher Initiative

The Homegrown Teacher Initiative is a pilot program currently for elementary and special education programs. It will expand to secondary level content area licensure programs, with an emphasis on the STEM areas, as Purdue continues to roll out its revised curriculum and in anticipation of two semester/full year student teaching beginning in the fall of 2024. Purdue’s Homegrown Teacher Initiative is funded through the Indiana Department of Education’s Attract, Prepare, Retain (APR) Grant.  The state-wide APR grants are aimed at helping schools and communities strengthen, expand, and diversify the educator pipeline. 

In the pilot Purdue Homegrown Teacher Initiative, the equivalent of the first year of a teacher preparation program is accomplished before full-time campus residency through a combination of dual credit courses, CLEP (College Level Examination Program), and AP (Advanced Placement) credits, online courses, and a five-week summer program on Purdue’s campus. The second two years are accomplished traditionally on Purdue’s campus along with all other teacher education students. The final fourth year is accomplished through a year-long, two-semester student teaching residency in the student’s home community and under the supervision of a mentor teacher who has participated in high-quality professional development on mentoring best practices. Besides bringing students back to their home communities, this plan significantly reduces the cost of college as there are limited to no tuition costs in year one and no housing costs in the first and fourth year.