TITLE 6 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
CHAPTER 60 SCHOOL
PERSONNEL - GENERAL PROVISIONS
PART 10 MENTORSHIP
PROGRAMS FOR BEGINNING TEACHERS
6.60.10.1 ISSUING
AGENCY: Public Education Department (PED)
[6.60.10.1 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05; A, 10-31-07]
6.60.10.2 SCOPE: All beginning
teachers holding a waiver, internship license, or level 1 New Mexico teaching
license and employed in a New Mexico public school district, charter school, or
state agency shall successfully complete a one to three year beginning teacher
mentorship program provided by the public school district, charter school or
state agency.
[6.60.10.2 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05]
6.60.10.3 STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Section
22-2-8.10, NMSA 1978.
[6.60.10.3 NMAC - N,
07-01-02]
6.60.10.4 DURATION: Permanent
[6.60.10.4 NMAC - N,
07-01-02]
6.60.10.5 EFFECTIVE
DATE:
July 1, 2002, unless a later date is cited in the history note at the
end of a section.
[6.60.10.5 NMAC - N,
07-01-02]
6.60.10.6 OBJECTIVE: To establish
requirements for statewide mentorship programs to provide beginning teachers an
effective transition into the teaching profession, retain capable teachers,
improve the achievement of students, and improve the overall success of the
school.
[6.60.10.6 NMAC - N,
07-01-02]
6.60.10.7 DEFINITIONS:
A. “Beginning teacher” means a teacher
holding a New Mexico waiver, internship license, or level 1 teaching license who has less than three complete years, full-or part-time,
of classroom teaching experience. For
the purpose of this rule, teachers with more than three complete years, full-or
part-time, of classroom teaching experience but who hold a waiver, internship
license, or level 1 licensure are not beginning teachers.
B. “Teaching license” means a (PED)
license issued in early childhood, birth-grade 3; elementary education, grades
K-8; middle level, grades 5-9; secondary education, grades 7-12; special
education, grades pre K-12; licensure for pre K-12 in specialty areas; blind
and visually impaired, birth-grade 12; and secondary vocational-technical
education.
[6.60.10.7 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05; A, 10-31-07]
6.60.10.8 REQUIREMENTS
FOR MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS: All mentorship programs must receive initial
approval from the director of professional development for the PED (hereinafter
the “director”). To receive approval,
public school districts, charter schools, or state agencies must submit a
proposed mentorship program that aligns with and supports the public school
district’s, charter school’s, or state agency’s long range plan for student
success and aligns with the PED’s nine essential teacher competencies and
indicators contained in 6.69.4 NMAC, or any successor competencies adopted by
the PED for level 1, waiver, or internship licensed teachers. The proposal must describe how the mentorship
program addresses the following:
A. provides
individual support for beginning teachers from designated mentors or support
providers; the support activities must include collaborative curriculum
alignment, design, and planning; they must also include classroom observations,
student assessment, individual instructional conferences, and instructional
resource development;
B. is
mandatory for all beginning teachers;
C. includes
structured and research-based training activities for mentors; the training
must include the development and needs of beginning teachers, the process of
developing mentorship relationships, the process of documenting teacher growth,
and best practices in working with novice teachers;
D. uses
a structured process for selection of mentors that includes selection and
evaluation criteria and details the person or persons responsible for
implementing the selection and evaluation process;
E. provides
compensation for mentors;
F. uses
an ongoing, formative evaluation of beginning teachers for the improvement of
teaching practice;
G. uses
an ongoing summative evaluation of beginning teacher performance during the
first 1 to 3 years of teaching, including an annual assessment of competence
for continuing licensure and a final assessment of competence for teachers
seeking level 2 licensure; evaluation of beginning teacher performance shall
include annual review and progress reports during the mentorship program,
collection of documented evidence of teacher growth and development, and
summative assessment of level I teacher competencies;
H. has
a process for addressing disputes or grievances between mentors and beginning
teachers and for replacing mentors for good cause shown;
I. establishes
a program that is at least one year in length but includes provisions whereby
support for an additional 2 or 3 years can be provided to teachers who do not
successfully complete the first year and continue to be employed in the public
school district, charter school, or state agency; and
J. has
documentation that describes how support was sought and obtained from the local
school board, administrators, and other district and school personnel.
[6.60.10.8 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05]
6.60.10.9 COMPLETION
OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAM: All beginning teachers must successfully
complete a minimum of a one-year mentorship program to be eligible for a level
2 license. Successful completion of the
program shall be documented on a form available from the professional licensure
unit and shall be maintained in each teacher’s licensure file in the
professional licensure bureau (PLB).
Under no circumstance shall a beginning teacher who is otherwise
eligible to receive a level 2 license unless he or she has been certified as
having successfully completed a mentorship program.
[6.60.10.9 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 10-31-07]
6.60.10.10 PROGRAM
EVALUATION AND FUNDING: All mentorship programs shall be evaluated
locally every three years to determine the effectiveness of the program based
on teacher retention. Annually the PED
shall review and make public teacher retention rates statewide and by
district. Annual state funding of local
district mentorship programs shall be based on the number of beginning teachers
who received mentorship services in the current school year as reported to the
PED by the school districts annually on the 40th day of school, if funds are
appropriated for that purpose by the legislature.
[6.60.10.10 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05; A, 10-31-07]
6.60.10.11 SAVINGS CLAUSE: All mentorship
programs submitted by a public school district, charter school, or state agency
to comply with 6.60.3 NMAC, Alternative Licensure, and approved by the PED
shall be deemed to be in compliance with Sections 1 through 9 of this rule. The director reserves the right to impose
additional requirements to comply with Section 10 of 6.60.10 NMAC.
[6.60.10.11 NMAC - N,
07-01-02; A, 11-30-05]
HISTORY OF 6.60.10 NMAC: [Reserved]