1. A. The purpose of the teacher mentorship program is to provide beginning teachers with an effective transition into the teaching field, to build on their initial preparation and to ensure their success in teaching; to improve the achievement of students; and to retain capable teachers in the classroom and to remove teachers who show little promise of success.
2. B. The department shall develop a framework for a teacher mentorship program for all beginning teachers. The program shall provide mentorship services by level two or level three mentors to the beginning teacher for the full school year.
3. C. The department shall work with licensed school employees, representatives from teacher preparation programs and the higher education department to establish the framework.

4. D. The framework shall include:

   1. (1) individual support and assistance for each beginning teacher from a designated mentor;
   2. (2) structured training for mentors;
   3. (3) an ongoing, formative evaluation that is used for the improvement of teaching practice;
   4. (4) procedures for a summative evaluation of beginning teachers' performance during at least the first three years of teaching, including annual assessment of suitability for license renewal, and for final assessment of beginning teachers seeking level two licensure;
   5. (5) support from local school boards or governing bodies of charter schools, school administrators and other school district or charter school personnel; and
   6. (6) regular review and evaluation of the teacher mentorship program.

5. E. The department shall:

   1. (1) require annual submission and approval of each school district's and charter school's teacher mentorship program;
   2. (2) provide technical assistance to school districts and charter schools that do not have a well-developed teacher mentorship program in place;
   3. (3) encourage school districts and charter schools to collaborate with teacher preparation program administrators at institutions of higher education, career educators, educational organizations, regional educational cooperatives and other state and community leaders in the teacher mentorship program; and
   4. (4) distribute up to two thousand dollars ($2,000) per year per beginning teacher from the beginning teacher mentorship fund for mentorship programs to school districts and charter schools; provided that no less than fifty percent of available funds shall be distributed on or before September 15 of each fiscal year according to the estimated number of teachers eligible to participate in their mentorship programs and, on or before January 15 of each fiscal year, distribute funding based on the actual number of eligible teachers participating in a mentorship program on the first reporting date of the school year, adjusted for any over- or under-estimation made in the first allocation.

6. F. Each school district and charter school shall submit as part of its teacher mentorship program submission:

   1. (1) the number of teachers that have completed each of their mentorship programs the previous spring or summer and have been hired by the school district or charter school for the following school year; and
   2. (2) a description of the mentorship services that will be provided to each of its teachers, including the name of the teacher, the grade level the teacher has been hired to teach and the name of the public school and, if applicable, school district where the teacher has been hired.

History: 1978 Comp., § 22-10A-9, enacted by Laws 2003, ch. 153, § 40; 2005, ch. 315, § 6; 2005, ch. 316, § 3; 2007, ch. 264, § 3; 2009, ch. 119, § 1; 2010, ch. 113, § 2; 2020, ch. 24, § 2.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For references to the former commission on higher education, see 9-25-4.1 NMSA 1978.

For the public education department, see 9-24-4 NMSA 1978.

The 2020 amendment, effective May 20, 2020, required school districts and charter schools to have formal teacher mentorship programs that are approved annually by the public education department, required the public education department to provide funding for mentorship programs from the beginning teacher mentorship fund; in Subsection B, substituted each occurrence of "first-year" with "beginning", and deleted the remainder of the subsection, which provided for certain funding for mentorship services; in Subsection D, Paragraph D(5), after "school boards", added "or governing bodies of charter schools" and after "school district", added "or charter school"; in Subsection E, after "school district’s", added "and charter school’s" throughout the subsection, in Paragraph E(1), after "require", added "annual", in Paragraph E(3), after "regional", deleted "service centers" and added "educational cooperatives", and in Paragraph E(4), after "distribute", deleted "no less than fifty percent of available funds" and added "up to two thousand dollars ($2,000) per year per beginning teacher from the beginning teacher mentorship fund", after "school districts", added "and charter schools; provided that no less than fifty percent of available funds shall be distributed", after "their mentorship", deleted "program on the fortieth day of the school year" and added "programs", after "distribute", deleted "the balance of available funds" and added "funding", and after "program on the", deleted "fortieth day" and added "first reporting date"; in Subsection F, deleted the introductory clause, which provided for developing a model for mentorship services, and added "Each school district and charter school shall submit as part of its teacher mentorship program submission", deleted former Paragraph F(1) and redesignated the succeeding paragraphs accordingly, in Paragraph F(1), deleted "an annual report to the department of", and after "hired by", deleted "public high schools, including charter schools" and added "the school district or charter school", and in Paragraph F(2), deleted "an annual report providing".

The 2010 amendment, effective May 19, 2010, in the catchline, after "program for", deleted "level one" and added "beginning"; in Subsection B, in the first sentence, after "program for all", deleted "level one" and added "first-year" and added the second and third sentences; and in Subsection E(4), after "estimated number of", changed "beginning teachers on the fortieth day" to "teachers eligible to participate in a mentorship program on the fortieth day" and after "actual number of", changed "beginning teachers on the fortieth day" to "eligible teachers participating in a mentorship program on the fortieth day".

The 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Paragraph (4) of Subsection E, after "distribute", added "no less than fifty percent of"; after "school district", deleted "annually on a per-teacher basis" and added "on or before September 15 of each fiscal year"; after "according to the", added "estimated"; and after "school year", added the remainder of the sentence.

The 2007 amendment, effective June 15, 2007, added Paragraph (4) of Subsection D and Subsection E.

The 2005 amendment, effective April 7, 2005, provided in Subsection C(4) that the framework shall include evaluation during at least the first three years of teaching.