Pursuant to Idaho Code § 33-512, the board of trustees of each school district shall have the following powers and duties: To provide support for teachers in their first two (2) years in the profession in the areas of: administrative and supervisory support, mentoring, peer assistance and professional development.

Idaho Mentor Program Standards

The Idaho Mentor Program Standards provide a vision and guidelines for local planners to use in the design and implementation of a high-quality mentor program for beginning teachers. These Program Standards require that representatives from across the educational community come together for initial planning and continue together to monitor and evaluate for program improvement. The following program standards, elements and reflective questions are intended to guide your team’s thinking in designing an effective Mentor Program.

Purposes

The purposes of the Idaho Mentor Programs are:

1. To ensure a successful transition from pre-service into the teaching profession.
2. To develop teacher excellence and ensure that every student has an effective teacher.
3. To raise new teacher retention rates and satisfaction in the profession.
4. To ensure high levels of student achievement in all classrooms.
5. To improve the rigor and consistency of using multiple assessments to guide instruction that is differentiated to meet the diverse learning needs of students.
6. To build norms of collaboration, inquiry, data-driven dialogue and reflection using evidence.
7. To establish an effective, coherent system of teacher performance assessments that is based on Professional Teaching Standards.
8. To assure the parents and community that new teachers are being supported to attain high levels of professional competence.
9. To ensure that teacher professional development is individualized and based on Professional Teaching Standards.
10. To develop teacher leadership.
11. To ensure continuous program improvement through ongoing research, development and evaluation.