National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Initial Summary

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States, dedicated to promoting excellence in education. Founded in 1987, the National Board improves teaching and student learning by enhancing overall educator effectiveness and recognizing and rewarding highly accomplished educators who meet high National Board standards[1]. It develops and maintains advanced standards for educators and offers a national, voluntary assessment, National Board Certification, based on the NBPTS Standards. As of December 2017, more than 118,000 educators have become National Board Certified Teachers in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Arlington, Va.[2]

Mission

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

  • Maintaining high standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do[3]
  • 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

History

The board was formed in response to a 1986 report issued by the Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, a group funded by the Carnegie Forum on Education, of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The report, entitled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century,[4] called for the creation of a board to “define what teachers should know and be able to do” and to “support the creation of a rigorous, valid assessment to see that certified teachers do meet these standards.” Former governor of North Carolina, James B. Hunt Jr., served as the first chair of the NBPTSBoard of Directors and former Ford Foundation executive, James A. Kelly, became the National Board's first president.

In October 1999, the NBPTS Board of Directors adopted the resolution to establish the James A. Kelly Award for Advancing Accomplished Teaching, in honor of James A. Kelly, founding president of the National Board. The award will be given “to recognize and honor individuals who provide clear, consistent and convincing evidence of their ability to foster Mr. Kelly’s legacy of accomplished teaching.”

Recipients of the James A. Kelly Award include President Bill Clinton, Edward B. Rust, Senator Arlen Specter, Governor Roy Barnes, Linda Darling-Hammond, Governor Ted Strickland, Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., Secretary Richard Riley, Barbara Kelley, Terry Holliday, Ronald Thorpe, Michael Kirst, and President Barack Obama.

Standards

National Board's standards are based on "Five Core Propositions"[5] and provide a reference that helps educators link teaching standards to teaching practice.

The Five Core Propositions consist of the following:

  • Proposition 1: Teachers are committed to students and their learning
  • Proposition 2: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students
  • Proposition 3: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning
  • Proposition 4: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience
  • Proposition 5: Teachers are members of learning communities

The National Board publishes standards of “accomplished teaching” for 25 certificate areas[6] and developmental levels for pre-K through 12th grade. These standards were developed and validated by representative councils of master teachers, disciplinary organizations and other education experts.

National Board Certification

National Board Certification is a voluntary advanced professional certification based on the NBPTS standards. There are 25 different certificates available. Candidates for National Board Certification must complete four components: three portfolio entries, submitted online, and a computer-based assessment, which is administered at a testing center.[7]

The assessment fee is $1900; however, financial support is available.[8]

Each year, National Board Certified Teachers participate in a nationwide celebration entitled Team NBCT week. This celebration recognizes and acknowledges the achievement of all new and renewed National Board Certified Teachers, particularly those who achieved during the current candidate cycle.

Research

Since its founding, the National Board has been the subject of extensive academic research. The scope of this research has included such matters as a review of the impact of National Board Certification on student performance,[9] the quality of teaching by National Board Certified Teachers in the classroom, and the influence of the process on teacher retention.[10]

In 2008, the United States National Research Council a division of the National Academies published a report stating that "Students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers make greater gains on achievement tests than students taught by teachers who are not board-certified."[11]

In 2008 it was found in LA Unified Schools that “the difference in impacts [on student achievement] between [Board-certified teachers] and unsuccessful applicants was statistically significant.”[12]

In 2015, researchers found that in Washington State, “[Board-] certified teachers are more effective than non-certified teachers with similar experience.” Their findings suggest National Board Certified Teachers produce gains of up to “nearly 1.5 months of additional learning.”[13]

Publications

National Board's blog, The Standard, is home to podcasts and articles developed by National Board Certified Teachers. Topics include content relevant to its audience of educators, policy makers and others interested in quality teaching.

What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do articulates the National Board's Five Core Propositions for teaching. A full version can be obtained online.

References

  1. ↑ "Standards for NBPTS | The Five Core Propositions". NBPTS | Shaping the profession that shapes America's future. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  2. ↑ About NBPTS. Retrieved 12/16/18.
  3. ↑ "What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do - National Board for Professional Teaching Standards". National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  4. ↑ "Excerpts from the Carnegie Report on Teaching", New York Times, May 16, 1986
  5. ↑ Five Core Propositions
  6. ↑ "Categories for Board Certification" (PDF). National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
  7. ↑ Guide to National Board Certification. Retrieved 2/25/08.
  8. ↑ NBPTS Fees and Financial Support. Retrieved 1/7/11.
  9. ↑ student performance
  10. ↑ https://www.nbpts.org/research/
  11. ↑ National Academies Press Release. Retrieved 7/16/08.
  12. ↑ Cantrell, Fullerton, Kane, Staiger (December 2008). "National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence from a random assignment experiment" (PDF). National Bureau of Economic Research.
  13. ↑ Cowan, Goldhaber (February 2015). "National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence from Washington" (PDF). Center for Education Data & Research.

Further reading

  • Edward B. Fiske (May 16, 1986), "Carnegie panel plans to establish nationwide teacher certification", New York Times
  • David D. Haynes (1995). "One teachers' experience with National Board assessment". Educational Leadership. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 52. ISSN 0013-1784.
  • What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future, New York: National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, 1996
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