The Great Beginnings Mentor Program provides support directly at the school site for all teachers new to Fairfax County Public Schools. Mentors help new teachers with specific school issues and provide another source of support as teachers negotiate their first year in the school division.

The Program Format
Each school has a lead mentor teacher who works in conjunction with the principal to assign mentor teachers to newly-hired teachers. At the elementary level, a new teacher is matched with a teacher on the same grade level, if possible. At the middle and high school levels, a new teacher is matched with a teacher who has a similar teaching assignment. Mentors for teachers in some specialized programs are assigned centrally.
Special Note: ALL new teachers are assigned a mentor.

How are Mentors and Lead Mentors Selected and Trained?
Mentor and Lead Mentor Selection
As part of the institutional support to new teacher induction in FCPS, each school has a lead mentor who supports school-based induction and matches mentees with mentors.

Mentor Training
All mentors in FCPS are trained through the FCPS Academy course Mentoring Novice Teachers This course is taught by Lead Mentors in school-based administrators in FCPS.