1. (a) The Teacher Excellence and Support System also shall include novice teacher mentoring for each novice teacher employed at the public school that:

   1. (1) Leads to improved student achievement by increasing effective teacher performance;
   2. (2) Establishes norms of professionalism; and
   3. (3) Provides training and support to novice teachers to increase teacher retention;
2. (b) Novice teaching mentoring resources will be coordinated regionally through the Department of Education using grants with educational partners.

3. (c)

   1. (1) An educational entity is responsible for ensuring that each novice teacher is provided mentoring support opportunities for his or her first three (3) years of employment as a novice teacher.
   2. (2) An educational entity shall identify in the Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System each teacher who has completed fewer than three (3) school years of public school classroom teaching experience.

4. (d) An educational entity that does not utilize mentoring resources provided under this part:

   1. (1) Shall notify the department;
   2. (2) Shall use the educational entity’s own funding; and
   3. (3) Will be subject to department monitoring.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules provided the following at the end of the section: “Source: Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-17-2805, 6-17-2807, 6-17-2808, as amended by Act 295 of 2017; Act 237 of 2023”.