Mentoring Requirement for Certification

Holders of the Initial and Conditional Initial certificate must receive mentoring in their first year of teaching or school leadership in a public school district. Certificate holders who have had at least two years of teaching prior to receiving the Initial certificate are exempt from this requirement.

The purpose of the mentoring requirement is to provide a new teacher with support in order to gain skillfulness and more easily make the transition to one's first professional teaching experience. Satisfaction of a mentored experience is one of the requirements individuals must satisfy in order to qualify for the second-level, or Professional, certificate. Public school districts must submit documentation of the mentored experience and may do so by submitting the form Superintendent Verification of Mentored Experience.

NTC Policy Paper on Mentoring, click here

Principal's Guide to Implementing School-Based Mentoring, 2008-09, click here

California Standards for the Teaching Profession, click here