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Section 27h Mentoring and Induction Grants

Section 27h Mentoring and Induction Grants

To help increase retention of new teachers, administrators, and counselors, Section 27h of the State School Aid Act authorized three separate grants totaling $50 million related to mentoring and induction for the 2023-24 fiscal year and beyond: 

  1. Mentoring Standards, Curriculum, and Professional Learning Creation Grant: $500,000 to an intermediate school district or other educational entity to assist the Michigan Department of Education to create standards, curricula, and professional learning for mentors of teachers, administrators, and counselors. "Other educational entities" is defined as a Michigan approved Education Preparation Provider or an established Michigan professional education organization.
  2. Program Evaluation Grant: $500,000 to evaluate effectiveness of mentoring and induction programs in Michigan.
  3. District Mentoring Support Grant: $49,000,000 to districts over a 5-year span (with no more than 10 million a year) to support mentoring and induction activities. 

Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant

NOTE: Applications for round one are currently under review. Due to a high number of applications, MDE asks for patience during this review process. Grants should be awarded in early summer. 

Timeline

Application open: February 20, 2025
Application close: March 27, 2025
Application awarded: Summer 2025

Purpose

To provide $49 million (up to $10 million per year over 5 years) to districts to support mentoring and induction programming for teachers, administrators, and counselors.

Eligible Applicants

Districts: Intermediate school districts and local education agencies, including both traditional public schools and public school academies

Grant Information

There will be multiple rounds of funding. The funds awarded through the first round of the grant are able to be spent between October 1, 2024 - September 30, 2026. These funds may be used for the following purposes: 
  • Stipends to mentors of administrators, teachers, and counselors.
  • Training for mentor teachers, mentor school counselors, and mentor administrators.
  • Books, materials, professional learning expenses, and other resources necessary for mentoring and onboarding new teachers.
  • Staffing costs to cover time spent by both new and mentor teachers, school counselors, and administrators dedicated to mentoring and onboarding rather than being in the classroom or performing other job duties.
  • Contracting with 1 or more established state professional organizations to provide mentoring services to school administrators. Only $3,000.00 per administrator or the actual program cost, whichever is lesser.

Mentoring Standards, Curriculum, and Professional Learning Creation Grant

Purpose

Section 27h(5) gives $500,000 to an intermediate school district or other educational entity to assist the Michigan Department of Education to create standards, curricula, and professional learning for mentors of teachers, administrators, and counselors. 

Timeline

Grant awarded: June 2024 to Western Michigan University 

 

Mentoring Program Evaluation Grant

Purpose

To award $500,000 to a qualified evaluation entity to evaluate mentoring and induction programming in Michigan, including providing recommendations to improve programming. 

 

Grant Information

Awardee of this grant will gather and analyze baseline data from current mentoring and induction programs and then conduct an evaluation of mentoring and induction programs in Michigan after the implementation of the grants awarded per Section 27h. The final evaluation needs to include a recommendation on how to improve programs. 

 

Timeline

Grant awarded: October 2024 to American Institutes of Research (AIR)