First-Time and Returning Candidate Resources

The National Board made changes to provide flexibility for successfully completing your portfolio submissions, Renewal or Maintenance of Certification during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more on our Pursuing National Board Certification during COVID-19 page. Create a National Board account to learn the latest National Board candidate news.

Candidate Resources

The resources on this page include certificate-specific standards and instructions, overviews of the certification components and important policy and procedure documents.

Guides & FAQs
 Instructions
Forms
Release Forms
Release Forms – COVID Allowance

Standards and Instructions for First-time and Returning Candidates

As you prepare to start your National Board Certification process here are important documents for you to download: the General Portfolio Instructions and your selected certificate-specific instructions. The General Portfolio Instructions will provide you with key requirements, policies, and guidelines. This is an important document that includes relevant information that is not included in the certificate-specific instructions. For certificate-specific instructions and standards for new and returning candidates, please carefully select your discipline and/or development age level below.

If you are using the Chrome browser, you may need to take these steps to open the documents: right-click on the document link and choose “open link in new tab” or “open link in incognito window.”