ACTION REQUIRED
by August 14, 2015
MEMORANDUM
July 27, 2015
TO:
Principals
FROM:
Vanessa Nieto-Gomez, Mentor Coordinator, Academics
SUBJECT:
MENTOR-BEGINNING TEACHER, CAMPUS INDUCTION COORDINATOR
ASSIGNMENTS, AND CAMPUS ORIENTATION INFORMATION
CONTACT:
Vanessa Nieto-Gomez vnietogo@houstonisd.org
As the 15-16 school year begins, get your beginning teachers off to a strong start by assigning mentors
and conducting your Campus Orientation as soon as possible. Both TEA and HISD require all first-year
beginning, and ACP teachers to be assigned a campus-based mentor. Beginning teachers are
identified as having zero years of previous teaching experience as the teacher of record. Also assign a
mentor to arriving teachers from Spain for the 2015-2016 SY. The best way to determine eligibility is to
ask your new hire about prior teaching experience, since the reports that HR provide identify all new
hires as beginning teachers until their service records are received, which can take six months.
Mentor Minimum Requirements
In order to ensure that beginning teachers are fully supported, principals are asked to identify the most
qualified teachers on their campus to serve as campus based mentors and begin assigning mentors at
time of hiringAs outlined by the TEA Commissioner’s Rules (TEC, §21.458), to serve as a mentor, a
teacher must have
 a minimum of three years of teaching experience (i.e. going into their fourth year of teaching
this year),
 a superior record of assisting students in achieving improvement in student performance (as
measured by the Teacher Appraisal and Development System),
 to the extent practicable, teach in the same school; and to the extent practicable, teach the
same subject or grade level, as applicable.
The PSD Central Support Mentor Team will screen assigned mentors to confirm they meet the
minimum criteria by verifying years of experience and TADS scores. If a mentor candidate does not
meet the minimum criteria, principals will be contacted for a replacement candidate or asked to
complete an exemption form.
Assign Mentors ASAP
Assign and introduce mentors to the eligible new hire immediately. This pre-service period is an
important time for beginning teacher support to learn about the culture and policies of the campus,
district and community.
Report Mentor/Mentee Relationship in the Mentor Activity System (MAS) beginning August 24th
Principals or their identified Campus Induction Coordinator (CIC) are responsible to report all campus
mentor/mentee relationships in MAS. Note: The faculty roster found in MAS is populated from
PeopleSoft. New hire names will appear on the roster as they are processed by HR. If you do not yet
see the new hire’s name, check back in 2-3 days. Here are the directions for adding the names into
MAS.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Log on to the portal
Click on Mentor Activity System under HISD Application Links
Click on Mentor/Mentee Relationship, left side navigation menu
Click the dropdown arrow to populate school name.
Click Add Relationship, bottom right of the page
Select Mentor and Mentee name from drop down menus
Click on principal approval and SAVE
MAS serves as the legal documentation to formalize mentor-beginning teacher relationships and to
track the required weekly support for stipend payment. It is very important to verify that the mentee is
eligible to be assigned a mentor (as described above in first paragraph).
Campus Induction Coordinator (CIC)
All Principals were requested to report the name of their CIC in May, 2015. If you have not yet reported
your CIC, read the criteria below and use this link to name your CIC,
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CIC_2015_Identification. The CIC is responsible for facilitating the
Campus Orientation and overseeing support for all new teachers and mentors on your campus. . There
should be one CIC for every 10 beginning teachers on your campus. Campus Orientation
All campuses should have already allocated time in pre-service/week one of in-service for the campus
orientation for teachers new to your campus The CIC is responsible for organizing and facilitating the
orientation, with administrative support. Principals were initially asked to select between August 3rd and
4th for their Campus Orientation. Because the rescheduled PLS conflicts with these dates you can
identify a date that works best for your campus. All Campus Orientations should have occurred by
August 14th.
Campus Orientation Materials
All materials and resources to plan and implement the Campus Orientation have been provided.
Please
review
the
materials
found
at
http://houstonisdpsd.org.
Click
on
PD
Departments>Mentors>Scroll down to CIC Corner>Click on Campus Orientation File. There are several
documents, including the Campus Orientation at a Glance, a quick checklist of things to do. If you
watch the NTA Orientation Video, it will introduce all the other provided resources which includes a
recommended agenda, and the PowerPoint with facilitator guide. Modify materials as needed.
If you have questions, please contact Vanessa Nieto-Gomez vnietogo@houstonisd.org 713-696-0600
or 832.452.8705 (cell).