Assessing Accomplished Teaching Advanced-Level Certification Programs (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Assessment Program
4 The Assessment Program
Pages 59-78
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From page 59... ...
In this chapter, we describe the board as an organization, the experience teachers undergo as they pursue board certification, the content standards that are assessed, the assessment exercises, and the scoring. We conclude the chapter with our observations from reviewing the sample portfolio materials and videotapes.
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From page 60... ...
, which reviews product plans and development; and the NBPTS President's Roundtable, a group of philanthropic, business, and community leaders who work to enhance the NBPTS profile. The NBPTS offers a number of resources and supports for candidates and for board-certified teachers, such as a directory of teachers who have earned board certification and a state-by-state list of financial supports The NBPTS also employs 11 regional outreach directors who are responsible for building awareness of the program, and it has opened a facility in San Antonio, Texas, to handle customer service, candidate materials, and fee processing.
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From page 61... ...
The goal of the Targeted High Need Initiative program is to increase the number of board-certified teachers in high-poverty urban and rural schools. The Direct Recruiting Efforts to Attract Minorities Team highlights the importance of national board certification for minority teachers and their students.
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From page 62... ...
Although there are detailed content standards for each of the 25 fields for which certification is available, all of the certification-specific standards and assessments are based on these five core propositions. The content standards for each certification area are described in detailed booklets that are posted on the NBPTS website.
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From page 63... ...
In the next sections, we briefly describe the standards for these two areas of certification: middle childhood generalist and middle childhood and early adolescence mathematics (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1998, 2001c)
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(ages 11-18+) Art x x Career and x technical education English as a x x new language English ● x language arts Exceptional x needs specialist Generalist x x Health x Education
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From page 65... ...
Library media x Literacy: x readinglanguage arts Mathematics ● x Music x x Physical x x education School x counseling Science x x Social x x studies-history World x languages other than English SOURCE: See http://www.nbpts.org.
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Accomplished teachers work with col leagues to improve schools and to advance knowledge and practice in their field. SOURCE: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2001c)
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From page 67... ...
For example, Standard 2 for middle childhood and early adolescence mathematics is similar but not identical to the corresponding standard for middle childhood generalists. The elaboration of this standard for the mathematics certificate addresses such issues as "the differing ways in which students process information on their path to understanding mathematics." The elaboration notes, for example, that accomplished mathematics teachers are able to "understand a student's misconception, identify the underlying rationale, and clarify the student's thinking," and also understand the developmental changes that take place between the ages of 7 and 15 and are able to "factor this developmental knowledge into their instructional planning." Such a teacher would recognize that students at the upper end of this range could tackle a complex, multistep problem, but that younger students may have more difficulty with this type of task.
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ADVANCING STUDENT LEARNING 5. The Art of Teaching Accomplished mathematics teachers create elegant and powerful approaches to instructional challenges.
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. Reprinted with permission from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, http://www.nbpts.org.
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with an emphasis on the capacity to draw inferences and apply knowledge to real-world circumstances (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2006b,c)
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Instructions to candidates emphasize that the materials they submit should provide evidence of their mastery of the five core propositions, and specifically, the NBPTS standards for their certification area. Thus, one of the written entries gives the candidate an opportunity to demonstrate understanding of
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From page 72... ...
Although the portfolios for all certification areas require the same kinds of exercises, the specific instructions to candidates are tailored for each certification area to elicit evidence that they meet the standards outlined for that field. For example, the portfolio instructions for the middle childhood generalist certificate specify that the teacher must include a videotaped lesson plus written commentary and instructional materials that demonstrate his or her ability to "sustain a classroom environment that supports students' growth, learning, social and emotional development, and emerging abilities to understand and consider perspectives other than their own through a social/history theme, issue, or topic" in the context of a social studies lesson (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2006a,e)
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From page 73... ...
Overall, there is clear, consistent, and convincing evidence that the teacher is able to create a stimulat ing learning climate that supports students' emerging abilities to understand and consider perspectives other than their own through a social studies/history theme, issue, or topic, and to assume responsibility for their actions. SOURCE: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2006b)
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From page 74... ...
The Level 4 response provides evidence that the instructional activities are placed in the larger context of instruction that is designed to enhance student learning in mathematics. The Level 4 response features clear, consistent, and convincing evidence that the instructional sequence includes activities that are sequenced and organized to develop understanding of a substantive mathematical idea as the sequence unfolds while building on students' interest and prior knowledge.
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From page 75... ...
Overall, the Level 4 performance provides clear, consistent, and convincing evidence that the teacher is able to design a sequence of learning experiences that builds on, and gives insight into, students' conceptual understanding of a substantive idea in mathematics within the context of instruction that enhances students' abilities to think and reason mathematically. SOURCE: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2006b)
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From page 76... ...
Readers who have had the opportunity to view videos of teachers in action, perhaps in the context of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, may appreciate how informative they can be. Several aspects of the national board video portfolio process are worth highlighting.
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Teacher A's written materials discussing the lesson demonstrated his self-reflection skills. He provided a thorough analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the lesson.
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From page 78... ...
Clearly the need to respect candidates' and students' confidentiality poses a challenge, but teachers who are considering applying or in the process of preparing their submissions would benefit greatly from the opportunity we were afforded in order to fully understand what is expected of them. Moreover, our reaction to the presentation demonstrated the importance of conveying the nature of the assessment to school administrators, policy makers, and others so that they better understand what is required of teachers who earn board certification.
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