Mentor Information

Mentor Information &

Internship Forms - 2012-2013 Cycle

Mentoring is a challenging and stimulating experience. Mentors are pivotal to the success of the intern and program. They provide induction of interns into the profession at a local and personal level, and receive the satisfaction of seeing the impact of their efforts on their interns’ teaching proficiency and professional development. They provide day-to-day, front-line support, coaching, and peer advising for interns, including location of resources, campus policies, and instructional strategies.

In order to support a new educator and to increase teacher retention, TOPP shall collaborate with the campus administrator to assign each candidate a campus mentor during his or her internship. TOPP is responsible for providing mentor teacher training that relies on scientifically-based research, but the program may allow the training to be provided by a school district, if properly documented.

TOPP provides coaching training to all assigned mentors. All TOPP teacher interns must have an assigned mentor.

Mentor Criteria and Selection

Mentor teachers are assigned by campus principal or their designee
Mentor teachers must have a valid Texas Standard Teacher Certification
Mentor teachers must have a minimum of two years teaching experience
Mentor teachers when possible should teach in a similar content or equivalent grade level as their assigned intern teacher
When the educational entity cannot provide a qualified mentor, TOPP will contract with a certified teacher to provide mentoring.