Since our founding, every element of the National Board’s work has been led by teachers, for teachers–the standards are no different. National Board Standards are regularly revised to ensure they describe all critical aspects of accomplished teaching and reflect the expectations that the teaching profession has established for Board-certified teachers in service of student learning.
Standards Under Revision
The National Board is in the process of standards revisions to redefine and refresh expectations for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.
Standards revision is a multi-year process. Candidates for certification and Maintenance of Certification should continue to use the published standards when preparing components.
National Board is currently revising the diversity, equity, and inclusion guidance in the Standards Development Handbook and analyzing the explication of the Five Core Propositions through a DEI lens. Once the Handbook revisions are complete, they will guide all standards revisions and adoptions. If revisions to the explication of the Five Core Propositions in What Teachers Should Know and Be Able To Do are approved, National Board staff will establish a revision schedule.
The first set of standards to be revised will be the Science Standards, beginning in 2023.
Current Status
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is pleased to announce the Global DEI Committee who are working on updating the DEI guidance for all standards revisions in the National Board’s Standards Development Handbook and to review What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do. As we are committed to ensuring National Board Standards apply to educators in all teaching situations and in all areas of the country, the committee of 12 members are
- representative of the diversity among teaching professionals and the students and communities they serve.
- a majority of National Board Certified Teachers.
- teachers who are currently teaching students ages 3-18+.
- experts (including school leaders, teacher educators, researchers, and other professionals) in child development, fairness, equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism.
- experienced collaborators who can adapt to a process wherein all decisions are made by consensus.
The committee will work in Arlington, VA, and all members will receive an honorarium. The committee’s work will be presented to the Certification Council for review and approval by March 2023.
- If approved, the development handbook guidelines, including updated expectations for practice in DEI, will be enforced when the revision of the Science Standards.
- If the Certification Council and Board of Directors initiate revisions of What Teachers Should Know and Be Able To Do based on committee recommendations, National Board staff will inform the field and establish a development plan.
Science Standards revisions will begin in 2023. An open call for Science Standards Revision Committee members will be live in early 2023, with a public comment period to follow in late summer or early fall 2023.
In the subsequent phases of standards revisions, certificate area experts will be convened to embed the adopted standards into each of the remaining certificate area standards. As the certificate area standards revisions are adopted by the Board of Directors, all assessments will be reviewed to determine what changes are necessary to reflect the new expectations in the standards.
Standards Revision Process
Throughout the development of both the standards and the certification process, the National Board:
- ensures a broad representation of the diversity that exists within the profession;
- engages pertinent disciplinary and specialty associations at key points in the process;
- collaborates closely with appropriate state agencies, academic institutions, and independent research and education organizations; and
- establishes procedures to detect and eliminate instances of external and internal bias.
As a first step in ensuring broad representation, the National Board convened stakeholders representing 42 organizations in May 2021 to inform its committee selection criteria for seating the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standard Committee and to generate guidance for the National Board’s DEI revisions.
An open application period was held from May 26 – June 16, from which the Certification Council appointed the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standards Committee members.
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee met from September 2021-June 2022. A draft DEI standard and recommendations from the committee were presented to the Certification Council. The Council accepted the committee’s recommendation to embed DEI guidance within the Five Core Propositions and the Standards Development Handbook, an internal document that guides revision and adoption of certificate area standards for National Board Certification. Development of a standalone DEI standard was sunset, so the revised guidance on DEI can be applied directly within existing certificate area standards.
In July 2022 the Certification Council appointed members of the Global DEI Committee to revise the Standards Development Handbook and review What Teachers Should Know and Be Able To Do. The committee will work through March 2023.
The committee’s work will be managed by National Board staff and overseen by the National Board’s Certification Council and Board of Directors.