The 12/23/2011 Idaho Statesman reports that as a result of legislation passed in the 2010 session, Idaho will discontinue funding the stipend ($2000/year for 5 years) that is paid to teachers who receive National Board Certification, having completed all of the program’s requirements. The stipend is supposed to defray, and perhaps then some, the not inconsiderable costs of completing the program. The certification is good for ten years, so a teacher must, about eight years in, begin the certification process anew.
Certification has complex set of requirements based on five propositions:
- Teachers are committed to students and their learning.
- Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.
- Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.
- Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.
- Teachers are members of learning communities.
It would seem that there is little here not to like. Do we want to improve our schools by improving the quality of instruction? It sounds like National Board Certification addresses that desire. “Students taught by educators who get certified by the National Board tend to make bigger gains on standardized tests than students taught by other teachers, according a 2008 report from the National Research Council.” What is supposed to replace it? “Public schools chief Tom Luna included new incentives for teachers in changes signed into law this year. They include a pay-for-performance plan to reward educators who go above and beyond” Meeting the same need? Perhaps, but I am doubtful.
Colleagues who have achieved their National Board Certification have uniformly said that doing so was more work and more difficult than their Master’s degrees.
Earlier this year, the Idaho State Department of Education announced the demise of the Idaho Direct Writing Assessment, a test instrument that had students write an actual essay on an assigned topic. The essays were then read, twice each, by a team of trained evaluators. In its thirty plus years, the IDWA appeared to me to transform the teaching of writing and the quality of student writing across the state. But according to State Superintendent, the ISAT, a multiple-choice, bubble-sheet tests with its error-based proofreading and questions about writing, is a superior instrument. Again, perhaps.
But it appears to me that Idaho has taken two bold steps in the wrong direction.
http://www.nbpts.org/become_a_candidate/what_is_national_board_c