National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
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Click on any of the questions below to get more information about National Board Certification.
What is National Board Certification?
Who administers National Board Certification?
What certificates are available?
How long is national board certification valid?
When will I learn the results?
Where can I get more information on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards?
What is National Board Certification?
National Board Certification is an advanced teaching credential. It complements, but does not replace, a state’s teacher license.
National Board Certification is achieved upon successful completion of a voluntary assessment program designed to recognize effective and accomplished teachers who meet high standards based on what teachers should know and be able to do. National Board Certification is available nationwide for most pre-K to 12 teachers.
As part of the certification process, candidates complete 10 assessments that are reviewed by trained teachers in their certificate areas. The assessments include four portfolio entries that feature teaching practice and six constructed response exercises that assess content knowledge.
Who administers National Board Certification?
National board certification is administered and conferred by The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). It is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of teachers and other education stakeholders who are working to strengthen the teaching profession and to improve student learning. The majority of the 63 board members are regularly engaged classroom teachers.
The standards describe the highest level of teaching in different disciplines across different student development levels. They represent a consensus among accomplished teachers and education experts about what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. The Five Core Propositions and the NBPTS standards form the foundation for National Board Certification certificates.
The standards are based on five core 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.
Specific standards for each field can be found on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Web site.
To be eligible, you must:
• Hold a baccalaureate degree.
• Have taught for a minimum of three years.
• Have held a valid state teaching license for those three years, or where a license is not required, have taught in schools recognized and approved to operate by that state.
What certificates are available?
The list of available certificates is available on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Web site.
How long is National Board Certification valid?
It is good for 10 years from the date of certification. You are eligible to renew your National Board Certification if you meet the following prerequisites:
• Your original 10-year certificate must be valid when you apply for renewal. NBCTs whose certification has expired are not eligible for renewal.
• You must be in your eighth or ninth year of certification to begin the renewal process.
• Your state teaching license must be current and unencumbered (e.g., not suspended or revoked).
When will I learn the results?
All candidates will receive their results and feedback no later than December 31 of each year. Assessment scores are provided directly and only to the candidates by the National Board. It is the National Board’s policy to maintain the confidentiality of all candidates.
Yes. Candidates who do not achieve National Board Certification in year one continue with the process by retaking selected portions of their original entries through the NBPTS score banking and retake process. The process includes score banking that allows candidates to save their original scores and take up to two more years to complete the selected entries and exercises (at $350.00 each) and submit them for scoring.
This allows each first-time candidate a total of three years from the date of first application to complete their progress toward National Board Certification. Candidates pay a fee of $350 for each portfolio entry or assessment center exercise they wish to retake.
“Take One” is a program that can be used by licensed teachers as an initial step in becoming a candidate for National Board Certification. A participant can prepare and submit one preselected video portfolio entry from any of the 25 certificate areas of National Board Certification and later transfer the score if he/she pursues National Board Certification.
Where can I get more information on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards?
Visit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards website at www.nbpts.org.