Mr. Damon Donnell
Executive Director of Student Services
ddonnell@sdale.org
479-750-8800

Who is a Support Teacher?

• Have 3 years of classroom teaching experience

• Hold a standard teaching license

• Have evidence of an annual evaluation rating of effective or higher

• Be employed in the same school district as the novice teacher (same building preferred)

Who is an Experienced Mentor and Journeyman?
It is recommended for an experienced mentor teacher to be assigned to any novice who does not have a standard or provisional teaching license.

• Hold a standard teaching license

• Have a minimum 3 years of teaching experience

• Have evidence of an annual rating of effective or higher

• Be able to show documentation of completing a DESE Recognized Coaching Trainings

*In addition to the above requirements, A Master Professional Educator or Lead Professional Educator designation on their teaching license is required for:

• Experienced mentor teacher assigned to an Aspiring Teacher Permit teacher

• Journeyman assigned to an Arkansas Teacher Registered Apprentice

• Experienced mentor teacher seeking merit pay who is assigned to a one-year supervised resident.

Arkansas state law requires that each novice teacher employed at a public or open-enrollment public charter school participate in mentoring that: (1) Provides training and support to novice teachers to increase teacher retention, (2) Establishes norms of professionalism, and (3) Leads to improved student achievement by increasing effective teacher performance.

There are two primary components of novice teacher mentoring in Arkansas. One is training and preparation for an effective summative evaluation rating under the Teacher Excellence and Support System (TESS). The other is individualized support provided by the hiring school. Mentoring programs and school districts are expected to support novice teachers through their formative years through professional development training, coaching, and guided practice. Mentoring plans for each district that ensures all novice teachers are/will receive training and support shall be readily available upon Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) request. If participating in a grant funded Education Service Cooperative (ESC) mentoring program, the ESC Mentoring Program Specialist (MPS) will be responsible for writing the mentoring plan and coordinating support.

Novice teachers are individuals with less than 3 years of total student-facing teaching experience.

• Teachers who are first year teachers in Arkansas but have 3 or more years of teaching experience in another state are not considered novice teachers.

• Teachers returning to the profession with 3 or more years of teaching experience are not considered novice teachers.

• Private or charter school teachers with 3 or more years of experience are not required to participate in mentoring if the district chooses to report these years of experience to the state.

• Mentoring for international teachers should be determined on a case-by-case basis. The hiring district and state mentoring specialist should work collaboratively to plan support. If school is participating in a grant funded ESC mentoring program, the mentoring program specialist should also be involved in planning support.

• DESE Novice Teacher Mentoring Manual, 2024-2025