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MSDE details Grow Your Own grant, expands registered teacher apprenticeship program
Summary
MSDE presented details of the Grow Your Own Educators Grant and its Registered Teacher Apprenticeship (RTAP) model: $19.4M awarded in round 1 to 13 LEA collaboratives, RTAP apprentices are paid employees who earn at least 24 college credits of on‑the‑job training, and MSDE projects over 600 prospective teachers from the awards.
Maryland Department of Education staff briefed the State Board on progress implementing the Grow Your Own Educators Grant and the Registered Teacher Apprenticeship model, describing the program as a state strategy to address teacher shortages.
Dr. Jason Keyes, MSDE director of educator preparation and development, said the RTAP combines employer‑paid, on‑the‑job training with coursework from Maryland‑approved educator preparation programs. "Apprentices are employees first," Keyes said, explaining that LEAs hire and pay apprentices, who work daily in classrooms under the supervision of a mentor ('journey worker') while also completing required coursework with an educator preparation program. He added that RTAP requires participating EPPs to award no less than one year's worth of college credit (a 24‑credit minimum) for the on‑the‑job training component.
Key details reported on the record: round 1 of the Grow Your Own Educators Grant totaled $19,400,000 over four years; MSDE received 20 applications requesting roughly $47,000,000 and awarded funds to 13 LEA collaborative proposals, projecting more than 600 prospective teacher apprentices across grantees. The funded projects prioritized special education and elementary education, with additional awards supporting early childhood, ESOL and secondary STEM areas.
Keyes described ongoing oversight and supports: MSDE will monitor grantees throughout the four‑year grant with regular check‑ins, technical assistance, and course‑correction opportunities; the Department of Labor provides apprenticeship compliance oversight. The RTAP rollout already has several LEAs and higher education partners signed on; Keyes said seven districts had completed agreements and several others were finalizing paperwork.
Why it matters: the grant and RTAP aim to expand retained, local pipelines of teachers by paying apprentices while they complete licensure requirements, reducing financial barriers for candidates and strengthening recruitment in high‑need fields.
What's next: round 2 applications closed June 30 and are under review; MSDE will finalize grant logic models and begin grantee data collection this summer, with first cohort enrollments in the fall.
