1. (a) General provisions.

   1. (1) The commissioner of education shall establish the Preparing and Retaining Educators Through Partnership (PREP) Mentorship Program to provide mentorship to beginning teachers under Texas Education Code (TEC), §§21.907, 21.458, and 48.157.
   2. (2) In order for a school system to receive funds for the PREP Mentorship Program under TEC, §21.907 and §48.157, they must meet all provisions described in §153.1302 of this subchapter (relating to General Provisions for the Preparing and Retaining Educators Through Partnership Program) and the program standards in subsection (b) of this section.

2. (b) Program standards.

   1. (1) Mentor teacher qualifications. A school system must:

      1. (A) prioritize the selection of current classroom teachers as mentor teachers using clear selection criteria, protocols, and hiring processes that align with requirements of this paragraph and TEC, §21.458, and retain documentation of such processes locally;

      2. (B) select mentor teachers who:

         1. (i) have at least three complete years of teaching experience with a superior record of assisting students, as a whole, in achieving improvement in student performance as determined by a set of student growth and/or achievement data. School systems may use the approved designations under TEC, §21.3521, to fulfill this requirement;
         2. (ii) demonstrate interpersonal skills and dispositional criteria prioritized and documented by the school system;
         3. (iii) demonstrate instructional effectiveness and expertise, to the extent practicable, in research-based instructional practices specifically for the grade levels and subjects to which the beginning teacher is assigned; and
         4. (iv) demonstrate leadership skills such as an ability to effectively communicate, influence colleagues to take action, and build trusting relationships with colleagues; and
      3. (C) prioritize the selection of mentor teachers who have experience as classroom teachers in the past three years.

   2. (2) Mentor teacher assignment. School systems must agree to assign no more than:

      1. (A) two beginning teachers to a mentor teacher who serves as a teacher of record for, on average, four or more hours per instructional day;
      2. (B) four beginning teachers to a mentor teacher who serves as a teacher of record for, on average, less than four hours per instructional day;
      3. (C) fifteen beginning teachers to an individual who serves as a full-time mentor teacher; or
      4. (D) eight beginning teachers to an individual who serves as neither a teacher of record nor a full-time mentor teacher and retain documentation locally of the mentor teacher's ability to meet the demands of the role.

   3. (3) Mentor training. A school system must:

      1. (A) ensure and track that mentor teachers and any appropriate school system and campus employees, such as principals, assistant principals, and instructional coaches, who work with a beginning teacher, supervise a beginning teacher, or oversee the mentorship program complete the Texas Mentorship Training established by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) every three years and:

         1. (i) ensure that mentor teachers and any appropriate school system and campus employees are trained before the beginning of the school year or 45 business days after being assigned a beginning teacher; and
         2. (ii) provide training in alignment with the Texas Mentorship Training scope and sequence that includes best mentorship practices to mentor teachers and any appropriate school system and campus employees throughout the school year;
      2. (B) in the years between Texas Mentorship Trainings, ensure that returning mentor teachers who have completed the Texas Mentorship Training are trained by the school system before the school year begins and one time per semester; and
      3. (C) ensure that any new mentor teachers complete the Texas Mentorship Training in their first year of mentoring.

   4. (4) School system support for mentorship time, scheduling, and logistics. A school system must designate a specific time during the regularly contracted school day for meetings between mentor teachers and the beginning teachers they mentor, which must abide by the mentor teacher and beginning teachers' entitled planning and preparation requirements in TEC, §21.404 and §21.405, and the provisions of paragraph (5)(A) of this subsection. The specific time may vary by campus, grade level, or content area and must be documented by the school system and may be provided through either:

      1. (A) a reduced teaching load for mentor and beginning teachers to facilitate mentor teacher duties described in paragraph (5) of this subsection, which may include rostering and scheduling strategies that provide classroom teachers fewer periods of instruction during the day via approaches such as reducing the number of sections assigned to the mentor teacher, increasing the number of students in certain sections to enable release time, hiring additional staff, or other strategic staffing approaches; or
      2. (B) a release time that is, to the extent practicable, scheduled in advance and predictable.

   5. (5) Duties of a mentor teacher. A mentor teacher must:

      1. (A) meet with each beginning teacher assigned to the mentor teacher not less than 12 hours each semester, with co-teaching or observations of the mentor teacher or other highly effective teachers by the beginning teacher being mentored or observations of the beginning teacher being mentored by the mentor teacher counting toward the 12 hours each semester;

      2. (B) guide, assist, give feedback to, and support the beginning teacher through mentoring sessions addressing:

         1. (i) orientation to the context, policies, and practices of the school system, including:

            1. (I) how to use school system and campus expectations within the classroom and implement routines and procedures with consistency to promote a positive learning environment;
            2. (II) instructional materials, including formative and summative assessments;
            3. (III) campus policies and practices related to instructional preparation; and
            4. (IV) professional expectations;
         2. (ii) data-driven instructional practices, including student work analysis protocols that analyze student work samples individually or collaboratively with the goal of understanding students' thinking, identifying strengths and progress toward mastery, and determining gaps in skills and knowledge; and

         3. (iii) specific instructional coaching cycles, including:

            1. (I) observation and actionable feedback related to research-based instructional strategies;
            2. (II) coaching regarding conferences between parents and the beginning teacher; and
            3. (III) review of available professional development opportunities aligned to feedback; and
      3. (C) meet the mentor requirements specified in Chapter 228 of this title (relating to relating to Educator Preparation Program Requirements) if mentoring a classroom teacher engaging in an internship.
   6. (6) Teacher participation reporting. A school system must ensure mentor teachers and beginning teachers participating in the mentorship program are accurately coded in a data system specified by TEA, such as the Educator Certification Online System, in accordance with TEA's specifications and deadlines.

3. (c) Performance goals. Performance goals prioritize measurement of:

   1. (1) mentor teacher qualifications under subsection (b)(1) of this section;
   2. (2) mentor teacher training completion under subsection (b)(3) of this section;
   3. (3) mentor teacher duties under subsection (b)(5)(A)-(B) of this section; and
   4. (4) school system duties related to mentoring time, scheduling, and logistics under subsection (b)(4) of this section.

4. (d) Funding and spending requirements.

   1. (1) A school system shall use money received under TEC, §48.157(b)(5), to provide stipends for mentor teachers annually, including:

      1. (A) for mentor teachers under subsection (b)(2)(A) and (B) of this section, $1,000 per beginning teacher; and
      2. (B) for mentor teachers under subsection (b)(2)(C) and (D) of this section, at least $1,000.

   2. (2) If any money received under TEC, §48.157, remains after providing stipends to mentor teachers in accordance with subsection (c) of this section, the school system may use that money to provide:

      1. (A) scheduled release time for mentor teachers and classroom teachers being mentored to meet and engage in mentoring activities; and
      2. (B) support for mentor teachers through mentor training, strategic staffing training, and compensation for school system staff responsible for overseeing and directing the annual mentorship training requirements.

Source Note:The provisions of this §153.1305 adopted to be effective May 17, 2026, 51 TexReg 3129.