National Board Certification From a Board Member’s Point of View

When the AFT asked me to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards about a year ago, my first reaction was that I wanted to find out if Board certification really was “the gold standard of teaching,” as some claim.  My fear was that it was a good program but that it might merely be taking already great teachers and officially labeling them as such.  If so, it really would do little to advance the profession and improve America’s teaching force.

• In 2007, 511 Illinois teachers achieved National Board Certification, according to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), an 18 percent increase over last year.
   
• Illinois ranked fourth nationwide in the number of new National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) and ranks seventh in the total number of teachers who achieved certification over time (2,492).
• Nearly 8,500 teachers nationwide achieved National Board Certification in 2007 – the largest one-year increase in the history of the National Board.
   
• The number of NBCTs has nearly tripled in the past five years (from 23,930 in 2002 to nearly 64,000 in 2007).
   
• From 2004 to 2007, the number of NBCTs who earned their certificates in Literacy: Reading – Language Arts has nearly tripled (324 in 2004 to 970 in 2007).
• One out of every 10 teachers who hold National Board Certification teaches math or science.

In 2007, Danielle Maldonado and Scott Reed, both Local 1274 teachers,  achieved National Board Certification, the most prestigious and rigorous teacher assessment program in the United States.  Maldonado teaches science at Golf Middle School in Wilmette.  She is President of Council 67 and a member of the Local 1274 Executive Board. Reed is a science teacher at Niles North High School in Skokie.