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: 

1. Provides training and support to novice teachers to increase teacher retention, 

2. Establishes norms of professionalism, and 

3. Leads to improved student achievement by increasing effective teacher performance.