Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) All school districts shall develop a
district mentoring program to provide nontenured teachers, including novice
provisional teachers who hold a CE or CEAS, with an induction to the teaching
profession and to the school district community through differentiated supports
based on the teachers' individual needs and to help them become effective
professionals.
(b) The goals of the
district mentoring program shall be to enhance teacher knowledge of, and
strategies related to, the NJSLS to facilitate student achievement and growth;
identify exemplary teaching skills and educational practices necessary to
acquire and maintain excellence in teaching; and assist first-year teachers in
performing their duties and adjusting to the challenges of teaching.
(c) All district boards of education that
employ nontenured teachers shall determine how each nontenured teacher in the
first year of employment, which shall be equal to at least 30 weeks, shall be
provided with the following supports:
1.
Comprehensive induction to school district policies and procedures, including,
but not limited to, introduction to school district curricula, student
assessment policies, and training on the school district's evaluation rubric,
including setting and assessing student learning through student growth
objectives;
2. Individualized
supports and activities, which shall be based on the nontenured teacher's
individual needs and shall be aligned with the Professional Standards for
Teachers at
N.J.A.C.
6A:9-3.3, the standards for professional
learning at
N.J.A.C.
6A:9C-3.3, and the school district's
Commissioner-approved teaching practice instrument. The supports and activities
shall be guided by:
i. The nontenured
teacher's degree of preparation and experience;
ii. The nontenured teacher's individual
professional development plan (PDP) developed in accordance with
N.J.A.C.
6A:9C-4.4;
iii. Areas of focus within the district
mentoring plan; and
iv. Goals of
the school and school district plans for professional development as described
at N.J.A.C. 6A:9C-4.2; and
3. One-to-one mentoring,
which is required for each novice provisional teacher as set forth at (d)
below.
(d) A district
board of education shall provide an individual mentor to work one-to-one with a
novice provisional teacher. The district board of education shall ensure:
1. Each novice provisional teacher is
assigned an individual mentor at the beginning of the contracted teaching
assignment;
2. The mentor teacher
provides observation and feedback, opportunities for the novice teacher to
observe effective practice, and confidential guidance and support in accordance
with the Professional Standards for Teachers, and guides the teacher in a
self-assessment on the school district's Commissioner-approved teaching
practice instrument;
3. The
one-to-one mentoring includes planned, weekly, in-person contact time between
the mentor teacher and the novice provisional teacher holding a CE or CEAS for
a minimum of 30 weeks, or proportionally longer if the novice provisional
teacher holds a part-time teaching assignment;
4. The mentor teacher and the novice
provisional teacher holding a CEAS meet at least twice per week for the first
four weeks of the teaching assignment;
5. The mentor teacher and the novice
provisional teacher holding a CE meet at least twice per week for the first
eight weeks of the teaching assignment.
i.
The one-to-one mentoring shall support the novice provisional teacher in
achieving the curricular objectives of the formal instructional program in
which the novice provisional teacher holding a CE is enrolled;
and
6. All contact time
between the mentor teacher and the novice provisional teacher shall be recorded
in a log, developed as part of the district mentoring plan, submitted to the
chief school administrator or designee, and maintained within the school
district.
(e) All novice
provisional teachers whose positions require possession of instructional
certificates pursuant to 18A:26-2 and 6A:9B-5.1 shall comply with the district
mentoring program requirements.
(f)
District boards of education shall budget State funds appropriated for the
novice teacher mentoring program.
1. Subject
to availability, the Department shall appropriate State funds based on the
number of novice teachers employed each year by a district board of
education.
2. District boards of
education shall ensure State funds appropriated for this program supplement,
and not supplant, Federal, State, or local funds already devoted to planning
and implementing a novice teacher mentor program.
3. District boards of education shall ensure
State funds are used for one or more of the following:
i. Stipends for mentor teachers;
ii. The costs associated with release
time;
iii. Substitutes for mentor
and novice teachers; and
iv.
Professional development and training activities related to the
program.
4. If no State
funds are available to pay the costs of mentoring fees, candidates who are
required to complete a provisional period of teaching to obtain a standard
certificate shall be responsible for payment of mentoring fees during the first
provisional year. The employing school district may pay the cost of mentoring
fees.
(g) The school
district's administrative office shall oversee the payment of mentors. Payment
shall not be conferred directly from provisional novice teacher to
mentor.
