Frequently Asked Questions

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Will I receive college credit for the course?

No, students do not receive college credit for the course.

What is the cost of the program?

The cost of tuition for TMI I is currently $915 which includes the cost of your textbook. The tuition for TMI II is $1445. For TMI I, the tuition will be due on or before orientation begins in order to guarantee your admission to the program. For TMI II, the money is due based on a payment schedule, with all payments due by the end of TMI II.

Is financial aid available?

Click here for our scholarship page.

What are critical needs areas and what does that mean for me?

The critical needs areas are math, sciences like biology, chemistry, and physics; foreign languages like French, Spanish, and German; and special education. TMI students who choose to teach one of these subjects are more likely to be accepted to the program and will more easily find a job after the program ends.

What is the GPA requirement for admission?

The GPA requirement for admission is 2.5 based on a 4.0 scale.

What materials do I need to turn in to apply, and when are application materials due?

You should sumbit the application which you can print off of our website; an official transcript from the undergraduate school where you received your degree; and any official Praxis I or II score reports that you have. You can request old Praxis score reports from ETS, but because ETS cannot directly mail reports to us, they will need to be sent to you, and then you mail them to us. Your application must include the $40 non-refundable application fee, made payable to TMI.

Application materials are due by August 30, 2013. Submission to a background check is also required. The submission deadline is September 13, 2013.

When will I find out if I've been admitted?

A few days after the application deadline, we will email acceptances, conditional acceptances, and denial letters to all students who have turned in complete applications. Thus, it is important that the student application indicates a working email address.

What does the online class cover? How much time will I have to spend per week on it?

The online class covers classroom instruction and application in the fields of effective teaching strategies, classroom management, state curriculum frameworks, planning and instructional methodologies, and use of testing as formative and summative evaluation tools. During the course students will be required to participate in online discussions and complete online quizzes.

Students should anticipate spending 6 to 8 hours on the course every week. In addition to classroom instruction, participants must spend 60 hours in a secondary school setting, gaining hands-on supervised experience.* All students in TMI I are required to attend a one-day orientation and a live seminar. More information will be provided on live workshops upon acceptance to the program.

* This requirement is reduced to 30 hours for program participants who are concurrently teaching in a Mississippi Public School District or a MDE-accredited private school.

When and where do I do my sixty hours of observation?

The sixty hours of observation must be done in a Mississippi school. You can observe any classroom in grades 7 through 12 even if the subject area being taught is not the subject area you wish to teach. This requirement is reduced to 30 hours for program participants who are concurrently teaching in a Mississippi Public School District or a MDE-accredited private school.

What will happen at the end of TMI I?

Upon successful completion of the first component of the Institute, participants may apply to the Mississippi Department of Education for the Alternate Route License, which is a non-renewable temporary license. The application is available at http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/educator-licensure/licensure-application-k12. Before you apply for the temporary, non-renewable Alternate Route License, please keep in mind that it is NOT valid for 365 days. It will only be valid from the date of issuance through June 30.

After you complete the first component of the TMI online program, you should seek employment in a Mississippi public school district or a MDE-accredited private school. Securing an appropriate teaching position is the responsibility of the participant, but the Institute will assist where possible. Click here to go to our Employment Resources web page.

Only students who have successfully completed the first component will be offered the opportunity to enroll in the second component of the Teach Mississippi Institute.

What will happen at the end of TMI II?

Only students who have successfully completed the first component will be offered the opportunity to enroll in the second component of the Teach Mississippi Institute. Students in the second component must be employed as teachers in a Mississippi Public School District or a MDE-accredited private school.

Upon successful completion of the second component of the Institute, participants may apply to the Mississippi Department of Education for a standard 5-year renewable Mississippi teacher's license. The application is available at http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/educator-licensure/licensure-application-k12.

What grades can I teach when I complete TMI?

Students who complete TMI can teach their subject area in grades 7 through 12.

What are the minimum suggested specifications for student computers?

Click here for suggested specifications for student computers

How much will I be paid once I complete the entire alternate route program?

After obtaining the five-year teaching license, new teachers who complete the TMI program will be given credit for having two years of teaching experience on the salary scale. Please note that once the TMI graduate has received the 5-year standard license, it is his or her responsibility to inform the school district that:

you are a TMI program graduate with one year of teaching experience (the internship year) and
you are eligible to receive a salary based on two years of teaching experience rather than the usual one year of teaching experience. The level of experience may vary due to prior years of teaching experience.

You may refer to the line in MS Code §§ 37-3-2 (6) (b) (viii) that corresponds to years of teaching experience on the MDE Teacher Salary Schedule.

Please refer to the most current Teacher Salary Schedule on the MDE website for salary information.

Is a background check required for the TMI program?

Yes, the submission to a background check with Certified Background is required.

How and where do I submit to the background check?

After you submit your signed application form, Certified Background will contact you via email with further instructions.

I have already submitted to a background check for my job. Do I need to submit to another background check?