Who qualifies as a Novice Teacher?
Novice teachers are individuals with less than three (3) years of total student-facing teaching experience as determined by the following criteria: • Assigned a 6-digit course code for coursework in eSchool requiring a license or involving a class taken for concurrent credit • Reported by the district in the eFinance software system as having 0, 1, or 2 years of total teaching experience. Click DESE's Mentoring Manual Link above for additional information regarding the definition of a Novice Teacher.
Arkansas state law requires that each novice teacher employed at a public or open-enrollment public charter school participate in mentoring that:
Provides training and support to novice teachers to increase teacher retention,
Establishes norms of professionalism, and
Leads to improved student achievement by increasing effective teacher performance.
Each educator shall obtain 36 hours of professional development annually. These 36 hours of professional development shall include at a minimum the professional development required by law or rule. School districts are responsible for monitoring and verifying the completion of professional development hours.