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California School Principal: “National Board Certification Made the Difference at our School”

October 27, 2009

Kiela Bonelli, principal of California’s Julius Corsini Elementary School, was among the educators and members of the education research community who recently gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss the role National Board Certification plays in the growing school reform movement.

“Many of you think Palm Springs as the place to golf or have a great time on vacation,” Bonelli told the National Press Club audience during a two-hour forum, sponsored by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

“My school,” Bonelli said, “is located in Desert Hot Springs on the north side of the 10 Freeway. It has the highest crime rate per capita in the area. Many of my students have parents who have been in and out of jail or are from the service industry. So we’re talking about the highest-need students in my district and in the state.”

Hardships were felt inside the school, Bonelli explained. For years, the school’s teacher turnover rate fell between 50 and 75 percent each spring while its academic performance ranked at the bottom in the Palm Springs Unified School District as well as statewide. 

Things changed during the 2007-2008 school-year for Corsini. All 43 teachers, two administrators and a reading coach decided to either pursue National Board Certification or enroll in the National Board’s Take One! process.

“That year we only lost three teachers and we had an improvement rate of 56 points on our Academic Progress Inventory,” said Bonelli, a National Board Certified Teacher herself since 2000. “We went from having 17 percent of our students proficient in language arts to 30 percent. And in math we had the same increase.”

“I truly believe that National Board Certification made the difference at our school site,” Bonelli added. “The level of conversation at the school has changed from ‘what’s going to happen at the next field trip’ to ‘how we can help every child.’”

Teacher retention concerns, Bonelli told the gathering, are a thing of the past. “Five years ago, if you were asked, ‘where are you from,’ and said, ‘Julius Corsini,’ you’d hear the groans across the district. Now we have people who want to be at our school site because they see the level of professionalism with our teachers and how they enjoy working together. They’ll do whatever it takes to be the best at instruction.” 

To view the National Board Certification as School Reform forum, click here.

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Contact:
James R. Minichello
(703) 465-2171
jminichello@nbpts.org