Although it has certainly been a challenging year, especially with logistics of virtual recruitment and training, we feel very confident moving into the 2021 placement season that our slightly modified placement priorities and processes will ensure the successful placement of our new recruits while also benefiting our partner school districts. 

Not a lot has actually changed for you: we’ve simply “made official” one of the practices we’ve been utilizing for years by recruiting directly from our partner school communities, and we’ve added a long-planned charge for Fellow placement that aids our program sustainability and allows us to support more Fellows. 

When we started in 2014, our recruitment efforts were aimed more toward college campuses, but with experience we’ve learned that we can also find awesome Fellows already in our partner schools and communities. Moreover, if we can successfully matriculate one of these “hometown applicants”, then we increase the likelihood that Fellow remains in the district long-term as a licensed teacher. As we move toward recruiting more Fellows from our partner communities, we will also continue recruiting recent college graduates and potential career changers throughout the state willing to move. 

Although we will continue to support our central and southwest partner schools with Community Sponsored Fellows (CSF), we are focusing our recruitment efforts this year on placements in the Arkansas Delta. This means that we will work closely with our Delta partners and new partner districts that meet our criteria to identify potential CSFs and place new recruits to fill vacancies in classrooms throughout the Delta.

For the 2021-22 school year, we are aiming to place 25 new new recruits in the Delta and fulfill 20 CSF requests (10 in the Delta and 10 in central/southwest AR).

Two Types of Requests for Teachers

• District successfully nominates a Community Sponsored Fellow (CSF) ($5,000/yr)
• District requests and receives traditionally recruited ATC Fellow ($2,500/yr)

Placement for the 2021 school year will officially begin in April; for priority consideration, submit your teacher requests by April 1, 2021. In the case of a CSF, we will work to confirm placement as soon as the school district officially recommends a candidate for the CSF and they have completed the expedited application process. May 1 is the last day to nominate a CSF candidate for participation in the 2021 Summer Institute.

I make a point to reach out quarterly to our district contacts to check in regarding CSF and identify any potential candidates. If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding requesting new teachers, please feel free to reach out to John Hall at jrh009@uark.edu.