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Virginia Teachers “Take One!” Step Toward Teaching Excellence

April 4, 2007
Half of the faculty at Virginia’s Hampton High School recently took a major step that is beginning to have a profound impact on their school, their professional careers and more importantly, the students they teach.

The school is participating in Take One!, an offering from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards that provides a standards-based approach for improving teaching practice and links student learning to effective instruction. Teachers in the program prepare and submit one video portfolio entry of their teaching practice from any of the current certificate areas of National Board Certification®.

On portfolio submissions day, Saturday, March 24, nearly 50 of Hampton’s teachers gathered at the school in what resembled an old fashioned pep rally. Principal Myra Chambers joined the group to offer support. “These teachers represent a model of commitment and a desire to grow for every teacher in this district and in the state. I am very proud of them.”

Hampton High has nearly 1,600 students of which 85 percent are minority and 43 percent are on free or reduced lunch. Teachers enrolled in Take One! say the process has changed the culture of the school. More than ever before, they are working beyond their subject areas of expertise and creating greater collaboration across the school’s curriculum.

Take One! allows teachers to “sample” National Board Certification––not only to improve their teaching practices within their classrooms and schools but also to begin the path toward National Board candidacy, if they so choose.

Chambers said she’s planning to enroll in the Take One! process herself. “I have already secured a classroom for next year and I believe most of the rest of my staff will also participate.”

“National Board Certification is truly the best professional development a teacher can do,” said Joan Davis, the professional development coordinator for Hampton City Schools. “The process is focused on teachers, how their students are learning and how teachers can prove students are learning.”

Take One! improves teaching quality by providing teachers with the opportunity to reflect on their own classroom instructional practices within the context of national teaching standards. “I am very excited to be involved in the Take One! program and I would recommend it to others,” said one Hampton teacher. “The process has given me the opportunity to critically analyze my teaching and how to improve it,” said another. The state of Virginia recognizes National Board Certification as a mark of distinction, similar to the way the medical, engineering and accounting professions recognize expertise. Virginia teachers earning the credential earn a state-awarded bonus of $5,000 after the first year of becoming certified and $2,500 annually in each subsequent year for the 10-year life of the certificate. Currently there are more than 55,000 National Board Certified Teachers® in the United States, including more than 1,100 in Virginia.