By Pamela Brice
For the Herald
EDMONDS — Teachers in the Edmonds School District are holding themselves more accountable as they try for national board certification.
"National board certification is similar to the bar exam for lawyers," said Joanie Jansen, a board-certified teacher and facilitator at Hilltop Elementary School.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is a nonprofit organization created in 1987 by a group of teachers to find ways to improve teaching methods and student learning. Those seeking certification spend 300 hours in one year analyzing their teaching.
One teacher who has been through it is Joyce Bonney, a science teacher at Lynnwood Intermediate School. She is awaiting her results.
"The rigorous work forced me to really analyze my students’ work and how I reach the children. I had to prove it and write about it in the process," she said.
"As a result, I am such a better teacher this year. I am a leader in standards. This one year of intensiveness changed me more than my master’s degree did," Bonney said. "It opened me up and forced me to sit down and be more analytical about each child — and kids pick up on that."
Teachers submit a portfolio of videotaped classroom teaching, lesson plans and student work samples to show their impact on how students learn. They also complete a lengthy written assessment to demonstrate knowledge of their subject area, classroom practices, curriculum design and student learning.
"It is one of the most difficult and powerful things I’ve done professionally," Jansen said.
Nationally, 10,000 teachers have been certified. The goal is to have 100,000 certified by 2006, Jansen said. Only 40 percent of teachers nationwide who undergo the process achieve the credential, but in Washington state 60 percent do, she said.
Teachers pay a $2,300 fee to go through the process, but the state helps pay part of the fee through the Washington Initiative for National Board Teacher Certification and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction Office.
As part of this Washington Initiative, scholarships are offered by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Stuart Foundation and Washington Mutual Bank.
National board-certified teachers can teach in any state, and in Washington they receive a 15 percent salary increase. The certification is good for 10 years, then the board requires a less rigorous recertification process.
Pamela Brice is education writer for the Enterprise weekly newspapers. You can call her at 425-673-6522 or send e-mail to brice@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
