National Board Candidate Support

See also:          My Story      Assessment Center Information            Assessor Advice        Resource Books

The national board process is an intensive look at your teaching situation. Many report that it takes 400 hours of work the first year. As I offer support, I like to remind teachers of three key ideas.

First, it is "standards based". Everything that you need to know is provided by NBPTS. The site contains standards, helpful advice, and even notes used by the assessors for each certificate. NBPTS does not hide information from the candidate about the application process. However, there is so much information and the process is so novel for most candidates that the process can be overwhelming.

Second, it was written for teachers and by teachers with the focus on effective teaching. So if you already know how to teach so students can learn, then you are well on your way. Do not try to create new lessons for the process; this is not a dog and pony show. Effective teachers should use tried and true lessons where learning is taking place. This is not an award, just advanced certification for experienced professionals.

Third, all teaching should keep the focus on the learner. A true professional reflects on their practice using evidence of student learning. Consider the following question, "If students are not learning, then are you really teaching?"

Below is a list of resources for the national board candidate in Arkansas.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: http://www.nbpts.org/ ..... Key pieces to review: 5 core propositions, certificate standards, portfolio instructions, and the scoring guide.

Arkansas Department of Education: http://arkansased.org/teachers/certification_program.html

Arkansas Teachers for National Board Certification: http://www.atnbc.org/

My faculty page: http://faculty.uca.edu/marac/

National Education Association: http://www.nea.org/certification/archive.html

Education World: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/diary_2003/teacherdiary.shtml

More specific sites happened upon….

Writing advice: http://www.wizzlewolf.com/testimonials.htm

NBCT Exhibits: http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli/nav5.shtml

http://newali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000328/Advanced_Organizers.html

from the Apple Learning Interchange: http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/

Florida: http://teacherweb.com/FL/StonemanDouglasHS/FloridaNBPTS-WLOE/ap16.stm

Illinois resources: http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/ilnbpts/NBCT/candidatesupportmodules/candidatesupportmodules.asp

North Carolina: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/recruitment/nationalboardcertification/resourcecenter/

Georgia: http://www.gapsc.com/AboutNBPTS/National_board.asp

Interesting conversation: http://teachers.net/archive/national_boards012900.html

Mrs. Russ: http://www.mrsruss.com/NBCandidates/nbsupport.html

N – National standards, universal language

         Professional organizations and reading helps.

B – Board of teachers,

         assessed by classroom teachers in your certificate area

P – Professional means experienced enough to be able to    

         focus on the learners

T – Teaching effectively and authentically

S – Standards and criteria that are published