ATC Joins National Network of Rural Educators

Arkansas Teacher Corps is partnering with the Rural Community Alliance to serve as the leads for the Rural School Collaborative's new Arkansas & Delta regional hub. The partnership will provide ATC an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning with other rural teacher corps programs through the U.S., while making RSC programs like the Grants In Place Fellows and National Signature Project Award available to teachers in Arkansas.

U of A Wellness Program to Support ATC Fellows

U of A Wellness Program to Support ATC Fellows

An interdisciplinary faculty team in the University of Arkansas' College of Education and Health Professions has developed a wellness program for Arkansas Teacher Corps fellows with funds from a college WE CARE grant after a survey of ATC fellows revealed a critical need for mental health programming to help prevent burnout and exit from the teaching profession. WE CARE+Wellness kicked off on July 10 with a workshop for the 38 fellows in ATC's 11th cohort, who will continue to receive support on implementing the program into their lives throughout the school year.

Research-Based Toolkit Addresses Teacher Retention

A graduate research team from the Clinton School of Public Service partnered with Arkansas Teacher Corps during the 2022-23 school year to explore the most salient factors for recruitment, retention, and attrition of teachers in Arkansas. Administrative support at the building level is the most salient factor for teacher retention. The team developed "Grow Your Own" Playbook with a checklist for administrators and check-in template for teachers aligned to the 5C's of administrative support that foster teacher retention.

ATC Staff, Fellows Attend Education Innovation Rally

On September 26-27, Arkansas Teacher Corps staff and fellows attended the 2022 Education Innovation Rally in Hot Springs, AR hosted by the U of A’s Office of Innovation for Education. ATC executive director Brandon Lucius and ATC director of institute Matthew Caston led breakout sessions on teacher retention and team leadership respectively. ATC teacher coach Kendra Ide, recruiter Whitney Carter, summer equity co-facilitator Dasnee McChristian, and fellows Ava Hollins-Rogers (ATC ’20) and Tyler Lewis (ATC ’20) were also in attendance.

Eight ATC Fellows Selected For Ed Equity Fellowship

Temisha Daniel (ATC '19), Nora Fisher-Cummings (ATC '20), Ava Hollins-Rogers (ATC '19), Maggie Howard (ATC '19), DaLecia Jones (ATC '19), Darrah Maxfield (ATC '19), Ta'Nessa Robinson (ATC '17), Kimberly Taylor (ATC '21), and Brianna Young (ATC '20) have been accepted to the Arkansas Academy for Educational Equity fellowship, a program of the College of Education & Health Professions at the University of Arkansas that results in a M.Ed. in Educational Equity.

Dollarway Celebrates 2/22/22 With Mindfulness

Dollarway Celebrates 2/22/22 With Mindfulness

Arkansas Teacher Corps and Pine Bluff School District partnered together to bring a new kind of celebration to the Dollarway community on February 2, 2022. In a twist of the years-old activity DEAR, students at DHS celebrated the once in a lifetime event with DrEAM (Drop Everything And Meditate). ATC fellow TyKesha Cross organized the event and enlisted ATC partnerships director John Hall to lead a mindfulness session.