{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-161.031","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 161.031","heading":"New teacher induction and mentor programs provided by school districts -","body":"- Definitions -- Standards -- Evaluations -- Annual report.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Mentor\" means an educator who has at least three (3) full years of experience\nunder a professional certificate and who has been trained to assist a beginning\neducator in the same professional role with his or her professional\nresponsibilities and general school and district procedures; and\n(b) \"New teacher induction and mentor  program\" means a multiyear, structured\nprogram of mentorship and professional development in which trained\nmentors provide constructive feedback to new teachers.\n(2) The Education Professional Standards Board shall develop standards and guidance\nfor school districts to implement new teacher induction and mentor programs. All\nschool districts are encouraged to provide an induction program for teachers in their\nfirst year of teaching that is aligned with the standards and guidance for school\ndistricts developed by the Education Professional Standards Board.\n(3) Standards for new teacher induction and mentor programs shall include but not be\nlimited to the following:\n(a) An orientation program for new teachers and other incoming teachers to be\nprovided at the beginning of and throughout the first year of employment;\n(b) Assignment of a mentor teacher to a new teacher within the first two (2)\nweeks of teaching and remaining with the new teacher for the first year of the\nnew teacher's employment in the school. Th e mentoring relationship shall be\ncomposed of activities that the beginning teacher and mentor participate in\ntogether, including but not limited to coteaching, lesson planning, and\nobservation;\n(c) The creation of a support team to provide assistance for new teachers,\nincluding focus on each new teacher's individual professional growth and\ndevelopment plan;\n(d) Workshops and training, including professional development opportunities\nspecifically designed for the beginning teacher that provides vital inform ation\non topics relevant during the first year in the classroom;\n(e) Workshops and training for mentors prior to assignment to a beginning\nteacher on the skills necessary for effective mentoring;\n(f) Opportunities for the new teacher to meet with the assigned mentor to share\nsuccesses and troubleshooting strategies;\n(g) Support teams to link the beginning teacher with a network of teachers in the\nschool or district, in addition to their mentor, that th e beginning teacher can\nrely on for assistance and guidance, especially for content specialization; and\n(h) Formative and summative evaluations to provide feedback for a beginning\nteacher to gain an understanding of his or her strengths and weaknesses and to\ngrow professionally.\n(4) The Education Professional Standards Board shall develop evaluations and rubrics\naligned to state academic standards and state and local procedures that shall be\nbased on the following standards of effective teaching:\n(a) Curriculum, content mastery, planning, and assessment;\n(b) Teaching all students; and\n(c) Family engagement.\n(5) Rubrics shall describe practice in detail at different levels of performance.\n(6) Categories of evidence shall be included to assess educator perform ance, including\nmultiple measures of student learning, observations, and additional relevant\nevidence.\n(7) Evaluations shall include new teacher self -assessment, individual goal setting and\nplan development, implementation of the plan, formative assessment , and a\nsummative evaluation.\n(8) By October 1 of each year, the Education Professional Standards Board shall\nprovide a report to the Legislative Research Commission for referral to the Interim\nJoint Committee on Education. The report shall include but not be limited to:\n(a) Identification of the school districts that have not implemented an induction\nprogram for teachers in their first year of teaching that is aligned with the\nstandards and guidance for local districts developed by the Education\nProfessional Standards Board;\n(b) The number of mentor teachers and the educator preparation programs that\nwere attended by the mentor teachers;\n(c) The number of new teachers and the educator preparation programs that were\nattended by the new teachers;\n(d) An analysis of how prepared new teachers are upon entering the profession;\n(e) The types of training utilized by districts to train new teachers, mentors, and\nsupport teams;\n(f) The types of remediation or supports needed by districts for new teachers that\nwere not covered in the educator preparation programs;\n(g) The major components of each new teacher induction and mentor program;\n(h) How new teacher induction and mentor programs are operated and funded;\n(i) How long new teachers receive mentor support;\n(j) The estimated annual amount spent per new teacher;\n(k) Measures being utilized to gauge the new teacher induction and mentor\nprogram's effectiveness; and\n(l) Impact on teacher retention.\n(9) The Education Professional Standards Board shall accumulate long -term data for\nanalysis of the impact of teacher induction and mentor programs on new teacher\nretention.","path":["KRS Chapter 161"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56513","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:09Z","sha256":"040250dc2d92afc5d5e6a13b396a1b698843ada8489a4bca283037c9a7004e44","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-161.030","next":"us-ky/krs-161.032"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}