Sharon Poole is the State Mentoring Specialist at the Arkansas Department of Education, where she has supported novice teacher mentoring across the state's education service cooperatives for two years. She came to the role from the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, where she served as a mentor.

Sharon spent 13 years as a public school teacher, primarily in fourth and fifth grades. In addition, she worked as an ESL teacher, math coach, and high school career transitions teacher. She is a former Praxis III assessor and Pathwise mentor who also homeschooled her sons for many years.

Ashley Farmer is the Teacher Success Specialist at the Arkansas Department of Education. Prior to joining the DESE Mentoring Team, she taught at Atkins High School for 24 years. As a teacher at her Alma Mater, she taught secondary English, Critical Reading, Introduction to Education, and was the yearbook sponsor, cheer coach, and data coordinator.

In addition to her classroom duties, her favorite role was a mentor for novice teachers, which she began doing in 2004.  She also enjoyed working with Arkansas Tech University as a Cohort for their residents. As a Cohort, she served as the Clinical Supervisor for future English teachers.