Do Grow-Your-Own Programs Work? Evidence from the Teacher Academy of Maryland

Abstract

Local teacher recruitment through “grow-your-own” programs is a prominent strategy toaddress workforce shortages and ensure that incoming teachers resemble, understand,and have strong connections to their communities. We exploit the staggered rollout of theTeacher Academy of Maryland career and technical education certificate program acrosspublic high schools, finding that exposed students were more likely to become teachersby 0.6 percentage points (pp), or 47%. Effects are concentrated among White girls(1.4pp/39%) and Black girls (0.7pp/80%). We also identify positive impacts on wages (5%on average/18% for Black girls), countering a prevailing narrative that teaching leaves oneworse off financially relative to other labor market opportunities.