The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) invested more than $50 million dollars of relief funds into grants to improve educator recruitment and retention. Through the grants, DESE helped local education agencies, educator preparation programs, and community colleges across the state strengthen their existing strategies and experiment with innovative approaches for recruiting and retaining teachers.

All grant recipients participated in a four-phase evaluation process to gauge the effectiveness of the grant program. The data confirmed with 95 percent confidence that the recruitment and retention grants resulted in positive growth in Grow Your Own (GYO) program enrollment and GYO graduation. GYO programs are designed to increase the supply of new teachers into the profession by identifying students and other support staff already in the school setting who have an interest in the teaching profession. The grant evaluation data also confirmed an increase in GYO graduates ultimately being certified to teach and hired by an LEA.