resources - educators > funding

NYS Mentor Teacher Internship Program

April 22, 2008 MTIP Informational Meeting: AM Session

 Questions and Answers

1. What is the difference between the mentor selection committee and a steering committee?
   
   Response: The mentor selection committee is a required component of any MTIP funding mentoring program. In accordance with Education Law 3033, there must be a mentor selection committee in the district, composed of a majority of classroom teachers selected by the local teachers’ collective bargaining unit, and then any other licensed or certified employee of the district. This committee implements the mentor selection process, and through this process, chooses the teachers in the district who may serve as mentors. Anyone who is not an employee of the district, e.g. parent or college representative, may not be a member of the mentor selection committee.
   
   A mentor steering committee, on the other hand, is an entity which has a major responsibility for oversight/coordination of the mentor program, including setting directions and providing advice and support to the program coordinator. The membership of this committee is determined locally, and may have persons other than employees of the district which are stakeholders in district professional development (including parents).
   
   
2. When is it too late in the school year to include newly hired teachers in MTIP?
   
   Response: Generally, it is recommended that beginning teachers hired in the district after March 1 be supported through local funding. 
   
   
3. Item “c” refers to beginning teacher supported through funds other than MTIP…how are those beginning teachers defined?
   
   Response: This is local decision; we are looking for what induction costs are to the district, as it is defined locally.  Generally, anyone with 3 or more years of experience is not considered teachers in the induction stage of development.
   
   
4. Teaching Assistant or teacher aide-can they be served?
   
   Response: No.
   
   
5. Can budget pay for release time as well as stipend?
   
   Response: Yes, release time expenses are the primary expenses to be supported through MTIP.
   
   
6. Can superintendent’s conference day count as a release day?
   
   Response: No. This is not instructional time.
   
   
7. Number of new teachers who need mentoring-does this just mean new, first or second year teachers?
   
   Response: Only teachers in the 1st or 2nd year of teaching may be served through MTIP. Any teacher who is new to the district but has 2 or more years of teaching is not eligible for MTIP support and therefore should be supported with local efforts.
   
   
8. Can estimate for funding include second year teachers who received mentoring from district last year?
   
   Response: Yes
   
   
9. Can we add appendices (such as log sheets, etc.)?
   
   Response: Yes. Significant documents may be attached as appendices to the proposal narrative and not included in the allowable ten pages. The narrative responses can have refer to a pertinent appendix, however, reviewers will be looking for full responses to the item in the narrative; they are not obliged to look beyond the actual narrative for a complete response.

April 22 MTIP Informational Meeting: PM Session

 Questions and Answers:

1. The March 26, 2008 cover letter from Robert Bentley announcing the RFP for MTIP 2008-09 says that the grants will be awarded for the 7/1/08 – 7/30/09 school year.  The MTIP says that notification of funding will go to recipients in August.  Are these dates correct?
   
   Response:  No. There is an error in the cover letter. Grants will be awarded for the 7/1/08 through 6/30/09 project year.    While applicants will be notified of their funding status in August, the actual school year for which funding is being provided runs from July to June.
   
   
2. If an individual is mentored under MTIP funding for a year, and the school district decides that they should receive mentoring for their second year, can MTIP funds be used for this second year?
   
     Response: No.  MTIP can only be used for one year of mentoring for a particular teacher.
   
   
3. Can MTIP funds be used to pay for expenses of mentors above and beyond the stipend they are receiving from the school district?
   
   Response: MTIP funding is used primarily to reimburse districts for the cost of releasing the mentor from his or her instructional assignments to participate in mentoring activities, that is, payment for replacement teachers for mentors and interns. MTIP support for stipending or hourly payment to mentors above the normal school day  time outside of the normal school day (i.e., after school training activities) are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  This includes annual stipends which are set in contract for any teacher who provides mentoring service in the district. The rule of thumb on the latter is that MTIP will cover no more that 50% of annual contractually set stipends. MTIP is a release time model of mentoring, and payments for mentoring service are a local determination and fiscal responsibilities for such payments are a local responsibility.
   
   
4. Is it acceptable for mentors to report in on interns to the coordinator and for the coordinator to keep records on the interns?
   
   Response: Yes, as long as the coordinator is not reporting or passing this information to the interns’ supervisor.  The program is designed primarily to be assistive to interns, not evaluative. On occasion, MTIP mentors hold an evaluative role as well as guidance and support, but that must be stipulated in the district’s local collectively bargained contract with teachers and the contractual language submitted with the grant application.
   
   
5. Can a full-time coordinator oversee more than 10 interns?
   
   Response: Yes.
   
   
6. Can both mentors and interns do observations of peers for professional development? 
   
   Response: Yes.
   
   
7. Please clarify how the 10% of instructional time is calculated. 
   
   Response: Think about the release time as calculated on a base of instructional hours in the school day. For example, if your district teachers’ teach 5 hours out of the school day, multiply that number x 5 (days in week) x weeks in the school year. Ten percent of that number would yield the number of hours throughout the year that would meet the release time obligation for MTIP compliance for one teacher.
   
   
8. A school district already had a training program for mentors since gets MTIP funding.  The selection committee has already been set up and the mentors have already been trained and selected.  How does this reconcile with the MTIP model? 
   
   Response: Any selection committee and selection must be alignment with the MTIP model in order to be funded from MTIP funds. Training programs should also reflect consideration of mentor and intern professional development needs. All MTIP mandated components must be present in the mentoring program in order for MTIP funding to be considered.
   
   
9. How is the funding of $5000 per intern broken down?
   
   Response: Any way the funding is used to cover the cost of release time, i.e. the cost to the district for replacing the mentor and intern when they leave their classrooms to engage in mentoring activities.  For example, if a full-time mentor is released from 100% of his instructional time, MTIP funding would be based on what it would cost to pay the substitute teacher, not on what it would cost to pay the mentor.
   
   
10. Do previously funded MTIP programs get bonus points on their grant score? 
    
    Response: No.  High Need school districts (Appendix 2) that are of sufficient quality (receive a numerical rating of 70 or higher) are eligible fro an additional 5 point to their numerical ranking.
    
    
11. Can applicants for MTIP funding see past proposals that were submitted?
    
    Response: Applicants may not see past proposals at this point in the grant competition, descriptions of model programs throughout the state may be accessed on the OTI website under “Resources for Educators” and “Mentoring Resources.”
    
    
12. What is to be included in the 10 page application document?
    
    Response: The narrative for the proposal may be a maximum of 10 pages in itself.  Information on tables required to be included is in addition to the 10 pages of narrative.
    
    
13. Can fringe benefits for replacement teachers be paid for with MTIP funding? 
    
    Response: Yes, depending on the hiring status.
    
    
14. How many MTIP programs have been funded for the 2007-08 school year? 
    
    Response: Eighty-eight
    
    
15. How many applications were there for the 2007-08 school year?
    
    Response:  100
    
    
16. Why were the 12 proposals not funded? 
    
    Response: Each application was reviewed by 2 independent reviewers.  Applications that weren’t accepted either had programs that didn’t meet MTIP qualifications, submitted applications did not address all required areas, or proposed programs that did not appear to be in compliance with the MTIP statute.
    
    
17. Is there any possibility that informational meetings could be teleconferenced?
    
    Response: This will be considered for future competitions, but not this year.
    
    
    

May 5, 2008 MTIP Informational Meeting: AM Session

1. Can a teacher who has experience but is teaching in a new certificate title be supported through MTIP?
   
   Response: Technically, this is allowable under the statute. This is not recommended as a priority area however, as MTIP is most effective and essential for teachers who are in the first or second years in the teaching profession.
   
   
2. If a master teacher is designated as a full-time mentor, do MTIP funds pay for the master teacher’s salary or the replacement teacher’s salary?
   
   Response: The replacement teacher’s salary.
   
   
3. Is a mentor allowed to support a beginning teacher who is in a different certificate area?
   
   Response: Yes, provided the Request for Variance of Mentor Qualifications is submitted by the applicant district. The district would also need to address any content areas of need which may come up for the beginning teacher.
   
   
4. Is the 10% release from instruction to be allocated every day?
   
   Response: No. The release time may be in any configuration, half-day, whole days, combination of allocation design.
   
   
5. Is there any assessment/monitoring of the release time during the project year [by the State]?
   
   Response: Yes. Off-site verification of the release time is in a review of the submitted review of the required Mentor Intern Information form (Appendix 1 in the RFP) and Mid-Year Reporting which must be in the program office by March 1. The percentage of release time reimbursement is reported in the former and the actual hours of release for each participant to date are reported in the former. In addition, documentation of release time for MTI participants is reviewed on-site during project monitoring visits. Finally, end of the year reporting includes final release time figures.
   
   
   
6. Do more successful programs have less contact time with program coordinators?
   
   Response: No, not necessarily.
   
   
7. We are still in the interviewing process in our district; can we use an estimate in terms of the number of new teachers to be served in our application?
   
   Response: Yes.
   
   
8. Are the budgets for one year only?
   
   Response: Yes.
   
   
9. Does the program office contact the unsuccessful applicants to apprise them of specific deficiencies of their applications?
   
   Response: The program office will provide the applicant a summary of reviewers’ comments with rating of the applicant.
   
   
10. Can you give individual assistance now to anyone who calls the program office?
    
    Response: No. The caller is referred to the questions and responses on the Office of Teaching Initiatives website.
    
    
11. Are reviewers in-house or external to the SED?
    
    Response: Both.
    
    
12. If the district supports teachers new to the district, can these teachers be supported with MTIP?
    
    Response: No. MTIP is targeted to teachers who are in the 1st or 2nd year of teaching.
    
    
    
13. We anticipate serving all 100% of our beginning teachers with MTIP...is that all right?
    
    Response: This is allowable, as long as you do not exceed 15 to be served in the 2008-2009 school year.

May 5, 2008 MTIP Informational Meeting: PM Session

1. Can the mentor selection committee include all teachers, including those without classroom assignments, such as, reading teachers, art teachers, etc.?
   
   Response: Yes.
   
   
2. Can we put graphics, tables, etc. in an appendix—not in the 10 page narrative?
   
   Response: Yes. Significant documents may be attached as appendices to the proposal narrative and not included in the allowable ten pages. The narrative responses can refer to a pertinent appendix, however, reviewers will be looking for full responses to the item in the narrative; they are not obliged to look beyond the actual narrative for a complete response.
   

5/6/08