Working With Your Mentor

Once you are issued a Statement of Eligibility (SOE) and have obtained employment in the role with a New Hampshire PK-12 employer, use the steps below to prepare your plan for submission.

Step 1

Speak with your employer to be assigned a mentor.

Your mentor must hold a valid Experienced Educator license in the endorsement of your SOE/plan. If you submit a plan with a mentor who holds only a Beginning Educator license or the incorrect endorsement or an expired license, you will be required to re-submit your plan with a different mentor that meets the requirements. Confirm with your employer that your assigned mentor meets these requirements. The mentor can be employed in your school/district/SAU, but can also be employed somewhere else or retired.

Step 2

Contact your mentor to set up a time to review your competency assessment sheets.

Plans must be submitted to the DOE within 60 days after you have started in your SOE role. You also want to leave time for your Senior Educational Official to review your plan. Contact your mentor as soon as possible.

Mentors may be able to use the time they work with you as professional development towards licensure renewal after consulting with the Senior Educational Official.

The responsibilities of the mentor will include all of those assigned by the Senior Educational Official and should include:

  1. Assisting the candidate in the completion of the Assessment of Candidate’s Strengths and Professional Development Needs.

  2. Evaluating the validity and strength of the candidate’s documentation when a competency is indicated as “met”.

  3. Assisting the candidate in finding appropriate “activities” to be listed on the plan for certification.

  4. Ensuring that the Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP) is clearly presented, complete, and represents a workable plan.

  5. Signing the signature sheet and recommending approval of the documentation and IPDP.

  6. Time Frame and Monitoring: Once the professional development needs have been established and the beginning plan is approved by the Bureau of Credentialing, the activities, time frames, and evaluation mechanisms should be developed. When testing is required for an endorsement, the test should be scheduled before the end of the first year of the beginning plan. The schedule for testing should be included in the IPDP.

Step 3

Review your competency assessment sheets with your mentor.

Use the link below to always download the most recent documentation.

Competency sheets can be found here: Competency Assessment Sheets

Be sure to determine at the above link if you need any of the following additional assessment sheets:

Professional Education

General Science

General Mathematics

CTE Teacher

 

Use the SBLP Materials Guide for specific instructions for competency assessment sheet review and plan submission.

If you are enrolled in and completing a NH approved educator licensure program in the endorsement area, you can skip this step and add your program information to your IPDP and include a copy of your enrollment letter with your Beginning of Plan.

Review your transcripts and input anything that you both believe would cover the competencies. Mark those items as met.

Input the name of the course, school and course number.

Example: Introduction to Exceptionalities Granite State College EDU 201

Any transcripts used in your plan must include registrar’s signature and be uploaded separately to your myNHDOE/EIS account.

Review your professional development and input anything that you both believe would cover the competencies. Mark those items as met.

Input the name of the professional development and date.

Example: NH Mathematics conference, How to teach math to EEL students, March 2019

Any professional development you use must have documentation of completion included with your Beginning of Plan.

Do not include lesson plans or experience – we want to know how the competency knowledge was acquired, not how it was put into practice.

Mark all other competencies as unmet.

Step 4

Complete your Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP)

This form can be found here:

Site-Based Licensing Plans Overview

 

This is a comprehensive process that should prepare a candidate to join the ranks of other highly competent educators. This pathway to licensure replaces a formal educator preparation program at the baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate level. It is expected that the preparation activities outlined in the candidate’s Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP) will be vigorous, thorough, and detailed, providing the Department of Education with the assurances that all competencies for educator licensure will be met by the end of this process.

Add any required testing still to be completed to your IPDP. It is suggested tests be scheduled within the first year of the Intern Authorization in case testing re-takes are required to obtain passing scores.

Testing Requirements

If you are enrolled in and completing a NH approved educator licensure program in the endorsement area, you do not have to add competencies to your IPDP. Instead add your program information to your IPDP and include a copy of your enrollment letter with your Beginning of Plan.

Copy all unmet competencies from your competency assessment sheets to the IPDP.

Review each competency and determine with your mentor the best way to meet the competency (acquire the knowledge). You can use college coursework (credit or non-credit), professional development (webinars, PLC’s, mentor meetings, team teaching planning, professional reading, etc).

Specifically list the ways you will meet each competency (you may list more than one way to fully cover a competency if needed) and the date the activity will be completed by and what you will submit with your End of Plan to document completion.

Example: CAST five-part video series on formative assessment September 2020 Completion certificate, or College Name, Course Number, Course Title

Activity dates should be spread out over your expected entire plan period. Do not date all activities for the last day your Intern Authorization will expire.

Do not include lesson plans or experience – we want to know how the competency knowledge will be acquired, not how it is put into practice. Passing scores on required testing cannot be used to meet competencies.

If you believe you have met all of the competencies, you must have at least one school year on the Intern Authorization listed on your IPDP.

Some employers may have very specific requirements regarding activities that will meet the competencies.

Step 5

Compile your Beginning of Plan (BOP) and submit to your Senior Educational Official

Signature Page can be found here:

Site-Based Licensing Plans Overview

 

In this order (completed):

Signature Page (be sure to include Ed ID’s for candidate and mentor).

IPDP

Competency Assessment Sheets or NH Approved Educator Licensure Program enrollment letter

Documentation of met competencies (copy of transcript for your Senior Educational Official to view and Professional Development completion to submit to our office)

Please also follow any of your employer’s additional procedures for submitting the BOP to the Senior Educational Official.

Reminder: Once the Senior Educational Official submits the approved BOP to our office, you will receive an email with directions to submit application/fee for your Intern Authorization. You will have 5 days to submit your application/fee or the plan will need to be re-uploaded by your employer. Once you have paid and our evaluator also approves the plan, your Intern Authorization will be issued. Intern Authorization dates start with date of hire in the role of the plan (not the date the Intern Authorization is issued). If you submit your plan late, you will have less time remaining on your Intern Authorization.

Once you are issued an Intern Authorization, your mentor will continue to assist you if any amendments are needed and to work with you on your End of Plan submission.