National Board Certification

National Board Certification, offered by the National Board For Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), is a way to recognize the accomplished teaching that is occurring in North Carolina's classrooms. The certification process is based on high and rigorous standards that evaluates teaching practice through performance-based assessments; the ultimate result is improved performance and achievement for North Carolina's students.

National Board Certification was first offered in 1994, when eight North Carolina teachers received this important professional credential. The number of North Carolina teachers receiving the certification has grown dramatically since then today equaling over 10 percent of North Carolina's teaching force. North Carolina has the highest number of National Board Certified Teachers in the nation.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards mission is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by:

* maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do;
* providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards; and
* advocating related education reforms to integrate National Board Certification in American education and to capitalize on the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers.

At the core of the National Board certification process are standards that describe the highest level of teaching in different disciplines and with students at different developmental levels. These standards represent a consensus among accomplished teachers and other education experts about what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. NBPTS Standards can be found at www.nbpts.org.

Teachers who have participated in National Board Certification have overwhelmingly stated it is the most powerful professional development experience of their careers. They say the experience changes them as professionals and that through the process they deepen their content knowledge and develop, master, and reflect on new approaches to working with their students.

According to research conducted by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, teachers who have achieved National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) significantly outperform their peers who are not Board Certified on 11 of 13 key dimensions of teaching expertise, according to a study released by the National Board. Based on student work samples, the study's authors declared that National Board Certification "is identifying and certifying teachers who are producing students who differ in profound and important ways from those taught by non-certified teachers."
HOW DO TEACHERS ACHIEVE NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION?

The assessment process for National Board Certification requires candidates to complete two major components: a portfolio of classroom practice including samples of student work and videotapes of teacher instruction, and an assessment of content knowledge administered at a computer-based testing center. It is estimated that the process will take the better part of a school year and involve a total of 200-400 hours of work outside of the classroom.
SUPPORT FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

State legislation provides support to teachers seeking advanced certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, formerly chaired by Governor James B. Hunt Jr. For state-paid teachers with a clear and continuing license and a minimum of three years teaching experience in North Carolina, the state will:

* pay the assessment fee
* provide up to three days of paid release time to candidates
* grant renewal credit for those teachers completing all components of the assessment within the funded assessment cycle; and
* pay National Board Certified Teachers a salary differential (separate salary schedule) of 12% of their state salary for the life of the certificate (10 years).

Federal subsidy funds may also be available to pay for candidates to retake a portion of the National Board Certification process, if necessary. The North Carolina State Board of Education has adopted policy recommendations to:

* adopt the core propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
* grant a North Carolina teaching license to out-of-state teachers who possess National Board Certification
* create staff development plans that incorporate the work of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in training programs, and
* develop plans to incorporate the National Board's standards into higher education programs.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STATE FUNDING

The state of North Carolina will pay, up front, the candidate assessment fee for eligible teachers. Teachers do not have to repay the fee as long as they complete the full National Board Certification process and teach the year following completion. Candidates are eligible for state funding if they:

* are paid entirely from state funds
* have completed three full years in North Carolina Public Schools (This includes DOC, DHHS, Office of Juvenile Justice, and public charter schools)
* hold a valid, clear, continuing North Carolina teaching license
* have not previously received State Funds for participating in the NBPTS assessment. (If a candidate received funding, withdrew from the process and fulfilled the repayment obligation, s/he can be funded again.), and
* engage in direct classroom instruction, library/media work, or school counseling 70% of the time over the course of the academic year.