Assessing Accomplished Teaching Advanced-Level Certification Programs (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-14
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From page 1... ...
The NBPTS has been offering advanced-level certification for teachers since 1994. The mission of the national board is to establish "high and rigorous standards for what teachers should know and be able to do, to certify teachers who meet those standards, and to advance other education reforms for the purpose of improving student learning in American schools." The Committee on Evaluation of Teacher Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was established at the National Research Council (NRC)
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Specification of the Content Standards and Development of the Assessments: To what extent does the certification program for accomplished teachers clearly and accurately specify advanced teaching practices and the characteristics of teachers (the knowl edge, skills, dispositions, and judgments) that enable them to carry out advanced practice?
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From page 3... ...
4. Impact on Outcomes for Students: To what extent does the advanced-level certification program identify teachers who are ef fective at producing positive student outcomes, such as learning, motivation, school engagement, breadth of achievement, educa tional attainment, attendance, and grade promotion?
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From page 4... ...
Translating the general statements of the standard to specific assessment exercises requires a significant amount of judgment on the part of the test developer. We recommend that the board develop more precise explanations of the standards to facilitate the work of the test developer and to ensure that the assessment exercises measure the intended skills (Recommendation 5-2)
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It is not clear how closely the board tracks such data and uses them to improve assessment exercises. We recommend that the NBPTS collect and use the available operational data about the individual assessment exercises to improve the validity and reliability of the assessments for each certificate, as well as to minimize adverse impact (Recommendation 5-4)
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Not surprisingly, the popularity of board certification appears to be related to the degree to which states and districts encourage it. Some states offer financial incentives to teachers -- covering the $2,500 test fee and offering sizable salary increases to those who are successful -- and have higher participation rates than states that offer minimal or no incentives.
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We recommend that additional research be conducted in this area, but we do not think that all research resources should be devoted to studies focusing on student performance on achievement tests, in part because such tests measure limited aspects of student learning. To the extent that existing data sets allow, we recommend replication of studies that investigate the effects of board-certified teachers on student achievement in states besides North Carolina and Florida, in content areas beyond mathematics and reading, and in grades beyond the elementary levels (Recommendation 7-1)
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However, our findings were based on a small national sample of teachers and need further corroboration. Neither the existing study nor our analyses permit causal inferences; that is, they do not indicate whether the NBPTS process causes teachers to stay in the field longer or whether the teachers who choose to become board certified are already more likely to remain in the field, regardless of whether they earn certification.
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The task force hoped that the board's standards would be widely influential and the demand for board-certified teachers would lead to improvements in working conditions for all teachers. Boardcertified teachers would influence the way their colleagues taught, schools and districts would use the board standards as a guide and work to provide teaching environments conducive to the board's approach, and teacher preparation and professional development would spread the influence of the board's standards to future generations of teachers.
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We think that board-certified teachers are unlikely to have a significant impact without broader endorsements by states, districts, and schools of the NBPTS goals for improving professional development, setting high standards for teachers, and actively utilizing the board-certified teachers in leadership roles. Furthermore, we think that the certification program is unlikely to have broad systemic effects on the field of teaching unless greater numbers of teachers become board certified and the Carnegie task force's other recommendations -- for creating a more effective environment for teaching and learning in schools, increasing the supply of high-quality entrants into the field, and improving career opportunities for teachers -- are implemented.
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the process itself can provide a means for teachers to improve their practices; and (3) it can improve the quality of teachers throughout the education system, keeping accomplished teachers in the field and attracting stronger teacher candidates in the future.
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The portfolio-based assessment that it developed to measure teachers' practice according to these standards pushed the measurement field forward. The NBPTS has the potential to make a valuable contribution to efforts to improve teacher quality, together with other reforms intended to create a more effective environment for teaching and learning in schools, increase the supply of high-quality entrants into the field, and improve career opportunities and working conditions for teachers.
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From page 13... ...
For the program to have the intended impacts on the teaching field, improvements will be needed, both in the operational aspects of the program and in the evidence collected, as we have recommended in this report. The board cannot achieve these goals alone, however.
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