The Office of Teacher Quality Novice Teacher Induction Program annually recognizes exceptional Pathwise Mentors through the Mentor of the Year awards. These mentors continually support novice teachers in a variety of ways that exceed the Induction Program guidelines.
Each year novice teachers have the opportunity to nominate outstanding Pathwise mentors to the local school district. The school district then selects one mentor from the entire district and submits that nominee using the attached nomination form. Only mentors who were assigned a Novice Teacher for the 2009-2010 school year are to be considered for the 2010 Mentor of the Year awards. Mentors previously honored with this award may not be included in the nomination pool for three years after winning. Completed nomination forms are to be sent to the district’s Co-op Teacher Center Coordinator for review.
Each Educational Co-op and each of the three Pulaski County school districts are to create a review committee comprised of at least one superintendent, one classroom teacher and one human resources person to select three to five candidate nominees to be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). A selection committee comprised of the Teacher Induction Program Advisor and two Pathwise consultants will determine the most deserving candidate for each Co-op and one from each of Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special School Districts. The Teacher Induction Program Advisor and the Office of Teacher Quality Unit Coordinator will also form a committee to select the Arkansas Mentor of the Year from the list of Co-op and Greater Little Rock winners.
AWARDS
Each Educational Co-op Mentor of the Year will receive a certificate and a $500 stipend. The Arkansas Mentor of the Year will receive a certificate and a $1,000 stipend.
BENEFITS and RESPONSIBILITIES
Trained mentors become better teachers by practicing the strategies they model. A community of quality mentors, in turn, creates quality novice teachers. Therefore, the Mentor of the Year winners are expected to provide up to two days of professional development assistance related to Pathwise trainer recalibration and fall update meetings for school district project directors. In this way, information will be shared on how quality mentoring is being made available to novice teachers in Arkansas. This will showcase both the Mentor of the Year as well as the quality of mentoring that is made available to many Novice teachers in the state. Each school district will be responsible for the cost associated with the Mentor’s absence from the classroom.
TIMELINE
The deadline for nominations to the Co-ops is April 23, 2010. The Co-ops’ semi-finalists’ nomination forms are due to the Office of Teacher Quality by May 14, 2010. Winners will be announced by June 1, 2010.
Questions may be directed to Ms. Maureen Harness (501-683-4382, maureen.harness@arkansas.gov) Teacher Induction Program Advisor, Office of Teacher Quality, 501 Woodlane, Suite 220-C, Little Rock, AR.