Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by Mary Niederberger

August 11, 2014

The state Department of Education is accepting applications for the 2014-15 Governor's Expanding Excellence School Mentoring Grant program, through which high-achieving schools can apply to become mentors to low-achieving schools.

Public schools with a 2012-13 School Performance Profile score of 90 percent or higher are eligible to apply for up to $25,000 for each profile component that contributed to their achievement. Applicants must review their strategies to come up with a research-based model or training tools that can be used to improve student achievement.

Successful applicants will show their models at upcoming conferences sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association School Leadership Conference and the education department's Standards Aligned Institute.

Grant recipients will then partner with and mentor a public school that has a 2012-13 School Performance Profile of 79 percent or lower to help improve achievement.

The districts in which the low-performing schools are chosen as mentees will receive up to $10,000 in funding.

The deadline to apply for a mentor grant is Aug.26. The deadline to apply for a mentee grant is Friday. Mentor schools will be chosen by Aug. 31 and mentee schools will be chosen by Oct. 31.

(Mary Niederberger, "State Department of Education accepting applications for mentoring grant program," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/11/14)