SENATE BILL 146

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Cynthia Nava

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO SCHOOL PERSONNEL; CHANGING THE DISTRIBUTION OF MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FUNDING.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 22-10A-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 40, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-10A-9. TEACHER MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR LEVEL ONE TEACHERS--PURPOSE--DEPARTMENT DUTIES.--

          A. The purpose of the teacher mentorship program is to provide beginning teachers with an effective transition into the teaching field, to build on their initial preparation and to ensure their success in teaching; to improve the achievement of students; and to retain capable teachers in the classroom and to remove teachers who show little promise of success.

          B. The department shall develop a framework for a teacher mentorship program for all level one teachers. The department shall work with licensed school employees, representatives from teacher preparation programs and the higher education department to establish the framework.

          C. The framework shall include:

                (1) individual support and assistance for each beginning teacher from a designated mentor;

                (2) structured training for mentors;

                (3) an ongoing, formative evaluation that is used for the improvement of teaching practice;

                (4) procedures for a summative evaluation of beginning teachers' performance during at least the first three years of teaching, including annual assessment of suitability for license renewal, and for final assessment of beginning teachers seeking level two licensure;

                (5) support from local school boards, school administrators and other school district personnel; and

                (6) regular review and evaluation of the teacher mentorship program.

          D. The department shall:

                (1) require submission and approval of each school district's teacher mentorship program;

                (2) provide technical assistance to school districts that do not have a well-developed teacher mentorship program in place;

                (3) encourage school districts to collaborate with teacher preparation program administrators at institutions of higher education, career educators, educational organizations, regional service centers and other state and community leaders in the teacher mentorship program; and

                (4) distribute no less than fifty percent of available funds for mentorship programs to school districts [annually on a per-teacher basis] on or before September 15 of each fiscal year according to the estimated number of beginning teachers on the fortieth day of the school year and, on or before January 15 of each fiscal year, distribute the balance of the available funds based on the actual number of beginning teachers on the fortieth day of the school year, adjusted for any over- or under-estimation made in the first allocation.

          E. The department shall require that teacher preparation programs collaborate with colleges of arts and sciences and high schools to develop a model to provide mentorship services with structured supervision and feedback to each of their graduates who have obtained a teaching position in a public high school, including charter schools; develop cost estimates; and provide recommendations to the legislative education study committee by November 1, 2007. The model shall provide for the following:

                (1) mentorship services for the first year as a level one teacher to each of their graduates who has obtained a teaching position in any New Mexico public high school, including charter schools; provided that teacher preparation programs may enter into contracts or memoranda of agreement with each other or with level three teachers in providing services to their students;

                (2) an annual report to the department of the number of teachers that have completed each of their programs the previous spring or summer and have been hired by public high schools, including charter schools, for the following school year; and

                (3) an annual report providing a description of the mentorship services that will be provided to each of their teachers, including the name of the teacher, the grade level the teacher has been hired to teach and the name of the school and district where the teacher has been hired."

- 4 -