National Board Certification Develops Effective Teachers
- National Board Certification has a positive impact on student achievement, teacher retention and professional development. (National Research Council, 2008)
- National Board Certification helps change teachers’ formative assessment practices (e.g., setting learning goals) and their instruction in general. Even teachers who start at a lower skill level end up with better teaching practices than those who did not go through the certification process. (Sato, Wei and Darling-Hammond, 2008)
- The National Board Certification process improves teachers’ professional development by:
(a) enhancing reflection on teaching practice
(b) establishing a professional discourse among teachers
(c) raising the standards for teaching performance
(d) facilitating collaboration. (Park, Oliver, Johnson, Graham and Oppong, 2007)
- National Board Certification is a “transformative experience” for many teachers, and they often apply in the classroom what they learn from the certification process—whether they achieve certification or not. The certification process itself improves teachers’ ability to improve student learning. (Lustick and Sykes, 2006; Rotberg, Futrell and Lieberman, 1998)
- A survey of NBCT candidates found that 92 percent reported the process made them better teachers, and 89 percent said it equipped them to create stronger curricula and better evaluate student learning. (Yankelovich, 2001).
