From Classroom Aides to Certified Teachers: How HISD Is Growing Its Own Workforce

Houston ISD leaders say the Grow Your Own (GYO) program is a successful district initiative designed to increase career mobility and remove financial barriers while cultivating aspiring teachers to teach in a high-performing culture. 

Current non-degreed employees, including Learning Coaches, paraprofessionals, and teacher assistants, are recruited to complete their teacher certification process while working in the district. They can complete their last two years of a bachelor’s degree, pass their certification exams, and complete a one-year residency program paired with a mentor teacher—all while receiving a salary from HISD, low-to-no-cost university tuition, and a support system from their campus, district staff, and university professors. 

Last year, the first cohort of these GYO participants graduated into their own classroom. 

“There is no talent like the one we grow at home,” Elizabell Garcia, senior executive director for teacher pipeline and certification, said. “GYO is a clear pathway for aspiring educators to become teachers and focuses on long-term educators who already understand HISD campuses and students.” 

A Growing Nontraditional Workforce 

The emphasis on non-traditional residencies and alternative education programs comes as traditional university-based teacher preparation has declined. 

According to a March 2026 report from the University of Houston Education Research Center, 43.5% of first-year teachers in the 2014-15 school year came through traditional four-year university programs and were fully certified before entering their own classrooms. By 2024-25, that figure had fallen to 24%.

Over the same period, the share of first-year teachers without any formal educator preparation jumped from 2.3% to 52.3%. 

HISD leaders said that it is the district’s job to respond to that shift by ensuring the people who found their calling nontraditionally stay in it through offering competitive salaries and flexible pathways that attract a wide range of professionals. 

“We know we can’t control how many people are going to college to become teachers,” Deputy Chief of Schools Ena Meyers said. “We can control the training and support we give to the teachers and aspiring teachers we put in front of our kids.”

For those with four-year degrees, or those who received their teacher certification in another state, the district implemented an Alternative Certification Program (ACP), which allows aspiring educators to pursue certification during their first-year teaching.

For current support staff without four-year degrees, including teacher assistants, paraprofessionals, and learning coaches, the district has developed a GYO initiative alongside partnerships with Denton-based Texas Women’s University to offer low- to no-cost bachelor’s degrees while gaining hands-on classroom experience alongside mentor teachers. 

To qualify for the program, candidates must meet the requirements, including: 

• Have at least 60 college credits, or an associate degree equivalent, with a 2.75 GPA
• Be employed by HISD as a classroom aide, including paraprofessional, learning coach, or teacher assistant positions
• Be accepted into the program through an interview with TWU professors and district staff

Through the district partnership with TWU, HISD offers $8,000 to $12,000 dollars in scholarships, which officials said in many cases covers the full cost of tuition, certification exam fees, and books, to complete a two-year degree. The fully online curriculum is a plus for many working students. 

Federal research indicates that for many prospective educators, the biggest obstacles to entering the profession are structural hurdles: the cost of a four-year degree, unpaid student teaching requirements, and certification timelines that make it difficult for working adults to transition careers.

Recognizing the financial barrier towards receiving a college degree, the GYO program is built to ensure that teachers are able to earn compensation. While taking their classes, they continue their position as a classroom aide. Once they complete courses and begin their year-long residency, they are paid between $37,500 to $50,000, depending on the amount of days a week they work. 

First-year, certified teacher salaries at New Education System (NES) campuses currently start at $70,000 and go up based on grade level and subject. 

The GYO approach is especially valuable in a large, dynamic city like Houston, where students benefit from teachers who understand and can relate to their lived experiences and backgrounds. By creating more accessible entry points—whether for mid-career professionals, recent graduates, or current school staff—the district is working to build a pipeline that better mirrors the communities it serves.

“When we expand access to the teaching profession without compromising financial stability or support, we strengthen the overall quality of the workforce our students deserve,” Garcia said. “In HISD, this is made possible through the district’s strong, instructional training, which equips and develops educators with the skills, confidence, and ongoing support needed to be effective from day one in a high performing culture,” Garcia said. 

How it Works 

Long before starting her first-year as a teacher at J.R. Harries Elementary, Veronica Soliz was teaching her own children. She noted that before they started school at the same campus she currently teaches, they could write their names and recite the alphabet. 

Driven by a desire to contribute to her children’s school, Soliz approached the principal to express interest in a permanent role, eventually transitioning from a tutor for the home-based preK program, known as HIPPY, to a teacher assistant on the campus she already loved. This deep-rooted connection to the staff and students made the school feel like the perfect environment to begin her professional transition.

Though Soliz pursued community college coursework in the past, she was concerned about the financial cost of university courses and had a sense of nervousness about starting something new. However, when she had the opportunity to join HISD’s GYO program and interviewed with her future professors, Dr. Sharla Snider and Dr. Jennifer Quong, she was reassured that completing the program on time while raising her children would be possible.

"If you had questions, they would answer them. They would find a way to help you,” she recounted from her interview. “The conversations with those professors pushed me to go with TWU".
 
After finishing a full bell-to-bell workday as a teacher assistant at 4:15 p.m., she would go home to attend online classes from 5 until 9 p.m. nearly every night. She said managing a family of three children required an immense support network, including her husband and mother-in-law as well as a tight-knit group of classmates who remained on "speed dial" to navigate the cycle of assignments. 

The virtual coursework typically lasts the entire year—depending on how many college credits participants arrived to the program with—leading up to when participants complete their certification exams, including state-mandated Science of Reading and core content tests, before beginning their residency year. 

The Residency 

After completing coursework and certification exams, the participants will transition from their classroom aides to leading instruction during their one-year residency under the guidance of a mentor teacher. 

For former learning coaches and teacher assistants, residents said this transition was an adjustment of professional responsibility and technical expertise. However, the daily guidance of their mentor teacher, paired with bi-monthly observations from district officials and university professors, allows for the ease of shift. 

While Keila Velasquez, current resident at Gregory Lincoln Educational Center, mastered the technical expertise of the Science of Reading curriculum, she used her mentor teacher to recall the specific tongue placements required for phonetic instruction. For example, she pointed to the subtle differences of the "K" and "C" sounds. While she knew she had learned the rule, she said applying it correctly in the moment was challenging. 

“It’s very helpful to have a mentor teacher. You can learn while your mentor is there to help you and coach you,” Velazquez said. “When you start on your own, mistakes fall on you.”

Velazquez also noted that the most helpful pieces of advice she received from these observations was that concrete manipulatives, which are physical items students can touch and feel, were important to teaching abstract concepts like "teen" numbers.

“Your babies need to have manipulatives in their hands at all times,” she said. “They need to touch it, they need to feel it."

For Tiffany Williams, the shift from a learning coach—where she could step in and provide targeted support—to a Paige Elementary teacher resident responsible for monitoring student understanding in real time underscored the importance of preparedness. She said feedback from both professors and her mentor teacher encouraged her to draw on her background in hospitality management, where she rose from room service attendant to leadership roles through her attentiveness. She said that her “perfectionist” approach helped her anticipate student needs and establish clear classroom expectations from day one. 

“You have to internalize those lessons,” Williams said. “You have to be ready to understand any misconceptions that your students may have and be able to pivot in the moment.” 

Oates Elementary first-year teacher, Veronica Mata—a former resident at the campus—said she adapted to the NES curriculum, which structures lessons into 15-minute intervals, by following her principal’s guidance. The curriculum emphasizes reteaching material for students who did not master the day’s lesson, she said, allowing teachers to focus more on reinforcing concepts rather than creating lesson plans from scratch.

“NES provides the material—you just have to internalize it. Then you have time to go back and reteach.”

All-encompassing Support

What sets the residency program apart for Velazquez is the support system from district, campus, and university staff that transformed a daunting career shift into a manageable journey. Velazquez initially felt she lacked the “village” to navigate pursuing her degree while caring for her two children, especially after she was placed as a teacher resident at Gregory-Lincoln Educational Complex, away from Baker Montessori, where her children attended and she was previously part of the teaching support staff. 

After speaking to the principal and district officials, she was encouraged to ask for help from those around her and became more outspoken about her needs

“I think I just needed someone to hear me out and tell me I was going to be okay,” she said. “It came down to calling and asking for help—something I wasn’t used to.”

In balancing caring for her newborn son, Mason, Williams was able to seek accommodations from her professors when she felt overwhelmed, such as extra time on assignments, additional instructional support, and one-on-one meetings or Zoom sessions outside of regular class hours.

Now that Mason is three, and having attended every class with her, Williams joked, “he already has a degree.” 

Graduating into the Highest Pay Scale 

More Certified Teachers in HISD 

The teacher residency program is partially funded by the state’s historic Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnerships (PREP) funding package signed during the 2025 legislative session, which earmarked $187 million for teacher preparation and certification efforts. Garcia said that prior to this funding, HISD invested in teacher residencies out of its own pocket. 

“HISD has already been innovative in this work, even before PREP funding,” Garcia said. “This new support creates an opportunity to sustain the program and continue scaling it.”

Though the state provides funding for 40 residents—regardless of district size—Garcia said HISD currently supports 65 residents. As the state mandates that the district have 100% certified teachers in core subjects in 2027-28, Garcia said that additional funding could support the need for strong, effective teachers. 

“What we've experienced is that every semester teacher preparation applications have increased by at least 25%. With more financial support, we could absolutely expand to serve those candidates,” Garcia said. “We know these teacher residency candidates will graduate with a commitment to student achievement, and ideally, we’d like to make space for every qualified candidate to meet our community’s needs.” 

For many of the residents, the program is more than just a pathway into teaching—it’s a chance to fill gaps they’ve seen firsthand.

Soliz and Mata are committed to increasing the number of Spanish-speaking special education teachers, drawing on their experiences translating for emergent bilingual students in these programs. 

Meanwhile, Williams hopes to receive her career and technical education (CTE) certification to bridge her expertise in the hospitality industry to her new classroom home. 

Karla Damian-Ibarra, current resident at Anderson Elementary, hopes to draw from her own experience as an emergent bilingual student to show others that their Spanish-speaking background is valuable. This coming fall, she will be teaching in the same west division neighborhood where she first learned that lesson herself as an HISD student. 

“I want to give back and make students feel the same way as my teachers made me feel,” Damian-Ibarra said. “They made me feel like my background was valuable."

How to Join? 

HISD classroom aides can complete an online screener to confirm their eligibility and apply for GYO with program start terms available in January (spring) and August (fall).

District administrators are currently finalizing decisions for the fall 2026 semester.

For more information or to connect with district staff, interested candidates may contact teacherpathways@houstonisd.org.