In 1983, the report A Nation at Risk provoked a wave of reform initiatives that engulfed the education community. Most of these programs, however, neglected to deal with developing qualified classroom teachers. Three years later, the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession issued A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century (1986), which recommended the establishment of a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). In 1987, the newly founded National Board took on three missions: to establish high standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do; to develop and operate a voluntary national system to assess and certify teachers; and to advance related education reforms.
During the past 14 years, the National Board has set standards for 26 certificate fields and now administers assessments in the 19 fields taught by 95 percent of teachers. These assessments cover a range of fields, including generalist certificates for early childhood, middle childhood, and early adolescence; exceptional needs certification for early childhood to young adulthood; and certifications for different levels in art, English as a new language, English language arts, mathematics, physical education, science, and social studies and history. Most important, the National Board has certified nearly 10,000 teachers and expects to certify more than 100,000 by 2006.
But many challenges remain. Despite the public's growing demand for highly qualified teachers, many states issue emergency teaching certificates to hire enough teachers to fill classrooms. Schools in the United States will need to recruit more than two million new teachers within the next decade (Olson, 2000), and 20 percent of those new teachers will leave teaching within their first four years because of frustration and dissatisfaction with their workplace (Olson, 2000; Recruiting New Teachers, 1999).
To provide every student with a highly qualified teacher, we must attract a greater number of capable candidates, encourage new teachers to remain in the profession, and find ways to keep accomplished veteran teachers in the classroom. The National Board's certified teachers can help meet these challenges.
Attract New Teachers
- Revising existing undergraduate courses;
- Developing new undergraduate courses;
- Teaching undergraduate courses; and
- Guiding preservice teacher candidates in their student teaching experiences.
Retain New Teachers
- Using the standards set by the National Board to provide all teachers with professional development programs that focus on high standards, content knowledge, and collaboration; and
- Employing teachers certified by the National Board and other veteran teachers as mentors and coaches for new teachers. Strong induction programs could provide the same kind of support that veteran medical doctors, for example, provide for intern and resident doctors to help them become part of the staff, build their skills through practice, and take on increasing responsibility and independence.
Keep Veteran Teachers
Often, the only way for experienced teachers to advance professionally is to leave the classroom, which means that the school, students, and younger faculty lose a valuable resource.
To keep capable teachers in the classroom, administrators should encourage excellent National Board certification. Forty states already encourage teachers to seek National Board certification by offering such financial incentives as fee reimbursements and salary supplements. Florida, for example, subsidizes 90 percent of the application fee and provides teachers who achieve National Board certification with a 10 percent annual salary increase during the 10-year life of the certificate.
- Create new leadership roles that offer continued professional growth, including such responsibilities as teaching university classes and mentoring preservice teachers;
- Ask exemplary teachers to design and present professional development programs at the building or district level; and
- Create flexible administrative structures that allow veteran teachers to take on new roles without leaving their classrooms. For example, pairing two veteran teachers to teach a single class would allow them time to teach and to engage in other professional activities.
Teachers certified by the National Board have already demonstrated that they can teach well. Properly recognized, their positive influence and the National Board's standards can touch all parts of our education system and help provide a highly qualified teacher for every child.
