Awards & Grants

Throughout the year, MEA gives out a variety of awards, including more than $175,000 in college scholarships to Michigan public school students since 1997 through the MEA Scholarship. Other awards honor MEA members for service to the association, public education and their students. Click on the awards on the left to find out more about the various awards available, including how to nominate worthy recipients.

The Michigan Education Association is committed to improving the quality of
education for Michigan students in the state’s public schools. As part of its continuing
commitment to deliver quality professional development and improved professional
practice for its members, MEA established a program to provide funding grants to
members, local associations and local professional development committees. MEA’s
Professional Growth & Development (PG&D) Grant projects allow members to plan and
implement conferences, workshops, research or other projects that address educational
needs and professional practice. Some suggested topics for consideration:

• Strengthening or developing a quality new teacher induction and mentoring program.
• Organizing to establish Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to address student achievement issues through targeted interventions.
• Developing the knowledge and skills needed to use data to make informed decisions about improving student performance.
• Selecting and developing strategies for working with subgroups struggling to meet proficiency level goals on state assessments.
• Providing “content coaches” to improve reading and mathematics instruction.
• Establishing targeted tutoring programs to develop or enhance student skills.
• Restructuring or redesigning curriculum to meet new content requirements.
• Considering ways to strengthen parent/family and school partnerships to enhance student achievement.
• Strengthening teacher cultural competency skills to understand how better to reach subgroups of students.
• Expanding the professional classroom team to include teachers, paraprofessionals, and other educational support persons.
• Familiarizing teachers with the use of student data to assist in making academic decisions.
• Participation in conferences and workshops meant to advance teacher leadership at the building level as a method for addressing the improvement of student achievement.
• Implementing Response to Intervention (RtI) and other research based approaches of intervention to prevent school failure.
• Implementing differentiating instruction for a diverse classroom.
• If you are considering any of the above, then a Professional Growth and Development Grant may be able to get you on your way.

Updated: August 13, 2009 11:36 AM