About the STAR Program
What is STAR?
- STAR stands for Smart Teachers as Role Models
- STAR’s mission is to recruit under-represented populations to teach in the Flint area
- STAR is loosely derived from the Call Me Mister Program
STAR's Purpose
The Flint STAR Program focuses on providing a leadership development, co-curriculum for students in a teacher education program to address substantial educational inequities within the elementary and secondary schools of Genesee County.STAR History
- In September of 2004, key administrators at Mott Community College began discussions with representatives from the University of Michigan – Flint and Baker College to address the shortage of under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at risk community teachers in Genesee County’s elementary schools and how the three institutions could best respond to this issue.
- Representatives from Clemson University contributed to this process
- In April of 2005, members of the collaborative assembled and interviewed a focus group of teachers to gather input related to developing a local STAR initiative
- In May of 2005, the collaborative worked with the GISD to identify current under-represented K-12 teachers
- Five of these individuals attended a focus group to garner the opinion of these teachers as to the value of this type of program
- The Secretary of the Flint Community Schools Board of Education and collaborative members visited Clemson University and the project was endorsed upon return (taken from Flint STARS Program Operations Manual)