Twelve Hawaii teachers achieve national certification

National Board Certification is one of the highest distinctions a teacher can achieve in his/her career. It means the teacher has, through a series of portfolios and examinations, met the most rigorous standards in his or her field.

This year, 12 more Hawaii teachers have been added to the ever-growing list of national board certified teachers.

"We are extremely pleased that teachers are taking the challenge to prove themselves with national board certification," said HTSB Chairperson Jonathan Gillentine. "And we will continue to provide support groups and incentives so more teachers can become nationally certified."

National Board Certification is the highest credential achievable in the teaching profession. It is a demonstration of highly accomplished teaching practice measured against high and rigorous standards in different subject areas for different student developmental levels." National Board Certification is achieved through a rigorous performance-based assessment that takes between one and three years to complete and measures what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.

Hawaii's newest National Board Certified Teachers and their certificate field are:

  • Shu-Ying Bonner, Keaau High School, English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

  • Kelly Duell, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Physical Education/Early and Middle Childhood

  • Elizabeth Elliott, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Library Media/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood

  • Laurie Ines, Kaelepulu Elementary School, Generalist/Middle Childhood

  • Sharon Inouye, Moanalua Middle School, Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence

  • Michael Mancini, Haleakala Waldorf School, English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

  • Laurie Meyer, Kapolei Elementary School, Generalist/Early Childhood

  • Kevin O'Brien, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

  • Mary Quijano, The Volcano School Of Arts & Sciences - PCS, Science/Early Adolescence

  • Ruth Santos, School Not Listed, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

  • Maya Smith-Henry, Farrington High School, Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood

  • Ann Watanabe, Kihei Elementary School, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

Research affirms that National Board Certification positively impacts student performance. 

  • Student assessments used by teachers who have achieved National Board Certification yielded results that were more closely tied to learning goals than the work of non-NBCTs, according to a study released in July 2005 by a team made up of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Western Region Education Service Alliance (WRESA) and the Assessment Training Institute (ATI).

  • Another recent study, which examined the impact of National Board Certification on student achievement, found that NBCTs developed and implemented instructional plans and assignments aimed at fostering deeper student understanding. According to researchers from Appalachian State University, students taught by NBCTs achieved deeper learning than students of non-board certified teachers.

  • Research by The CNA Corporation (Nov. 2004) found students of NBCTs did a measurably better job than other ninth and tenth graders on year-end math tests in Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Public Schools. All else being equal, teachers who had achieved National Board Certification helped their students achieve larger testing gains than did colleagues without the certification.

  • Research by Arizona State University (Sept. 2004) found that students of NBCTs outperformed students of non-NBCTs on the Stanford-9 achievement test, with learning gains equivalent on average to spending more than an extra month in school each year.

Over the past 6 years, the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board has provided support sessions in partnership with the teachers union to help candidates successfully navigate the certification process. The State Legislature helped fund this program for the Board in recent years and State Farm Insurance Company in Hawaii has been a long-time strong supporter awarding grants to the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to help defray program expenses not covered by legislative funding. Attendees of the free support sessions offered by the Board have reported that the sessions were extremely helpful and that attending the sessions were a key to achieving National Board Certification.

 Public school teachers in Hawaii who successfully complete the National Board Certification process are eligible for reimbursement of the $2300 application fee and related expenses.  In addition, the Hawaii teachers' contract rewards National Board Certified Teachers with a $5,000 per year salary bonus for the10-year duration of the certification.

 The Hawaii Teacher Standards Board is an independent teaching professional board that was created by the Legislature to set standards for licensing and re-licensing Hawaii public school teachers.

View all of Hawaii's National Board Certified Teachers

The Hawaii Teacher Standards Board was created to improve the quality of the teaching profession by ensuring that teachers hired in the State of Hawaii are fully licensed and qualified to teach in the subject area(s) in which they were hired.

Hawaii Teacher Standards Board
650 Iwilei Road #201
Honolulu, HI 96817

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