Assessments are based on the NBPTS Standards in each of the certificate areas. All NBPTS assessments consist of two major parts, the portfolio entries and the assessment center exercises. While the specific directions to candidates vary from one assessment to another, the major parts of the assessments are stable over all certificate areas currently offered.
This project is funded in part with grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. Through September 1999, NBPTS has been appropriated federal funds of $72.3 million, representing approximately 55 percent of the National Board Certification project. More than $58.7 million (45 percent) of the project's cost will be financed by non-governmental sources.
It is the policy of NBPTS to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) regulations governing both facilities and administration. If you have a disability that necessitates an accommodation under the ADA for either the portfolio or assessment center portion of the National Board Certification process, submit the Nonstandard Administration Request Form that is included in the Verification Kit mailed to you upon receipt of your application. In order to give NBPTS sufficient time to evaluate your request for an accommodation, submit your request for special accommodations during the 2000-2001 cycle by January 31, 2001.
Certificates in Early and Middle Childhood/Art, Early and Middle Childhood/Physical Education, and Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood/Physical Education will be offered during the 2000-2001 cycle, with portfolios being available in December 2000. Certificates in Foreign Language, Library/Media, and Music are scheduled to be offered in the 2001-2002 cycle, with portfolios available in December 2001. Work is beginning on developing standards for the Early and Middle Childhood/English Language Arts Certificate (incorporating reading specialists) and the Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood/Health certificate.
For information about pilot testing, contact Melissa Nolan at 800-779-3339 x5312, Fax - (609) 734-5450, or E-mail: mnolan@ets.org.
NBPTS is currently developing specific procedures for certificate renewal. Candidates may begin the renewal process within two years prior to the expiration date of their certificate. Along with payment of the renewal fee, candidates must submit evidence attesting to engagement in each of the five core propositions. The renewal requirements will apply to National Board Certified Teachers named through 2001.
An Assessment and Scoring Kit contains the instructions for all six portfolio entries for one certificate area, the scoring rubrics and materials for that certificate area, and the Standards booklet for the area. A Portfolio Sampler contains one or two portfolio entries from more than one certificate area, grouped together by the developmental level of the students. There are three different Portfolio Samplers available: the Generalist Portfolio Sampler, the Early Adolescence Portfolio Sampler, and the Adolescence and Young Adulthood Portfolio Sampler. Samplers do not contain sample candidate responses.
Not at this time. NBPTS is considering the possibility of publishing professional development materials that would include samples of portfolio entries, but these materials will not be available in the immediate future.
The majority of assessors are actually not National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs); however, NBPTS is working to incorporate as many NBCTs into the scoring process as possible. The number of NBCTs varies for each certificate and is not yet sufficient in terms of supplying an adequate number of assessors for each certificate area. Remember that scoring offers invaluable professional development to teachers who have not yet gone through the National Board Certification process. Assessors report they are changed by the process, having been exposed to a wide variety of teaching styles. Finally, each scoring cycle confirms that the NBPTS scoring instrument works for both NBCTs and non-NBCTs.
Each portfolio requires you to submit several kinds of evidence and artifacts. The artifacts you submit should be directly related to the featured lesson and should provide assessors with convincing evidence of what you are trying to convey about that lesson. Artifacts can serve different purposes, and you must make careful choices about the artifacts you submit. Some artifacts might simply show the students displaying a completed project. Other artifacts may reveal a depth of understanding about the featured lesson. For example, a photograph might show your students displaying a finished project, but copies of journal entries written by the students after the project ended may reveal more about what the students learned during that lesson. You will probably want to submit artifacts that reveal a deeper understanding of a situation. It is your responsibility to submit the evidence you feel best represents the teaching featured in each entry.
When you are evaluating a piece of evidence or an artifact you would like to submit, ask yourself the following questions:
You may not photocopy full-size pages of text or images in a reduced format in order to fit more than one page of text or images onto a single sheet of paper. This means, for example, that you may not reduce two full pages of text in order to place both pages of text onto a single sheet. Doing so would make the font of the reduced text smaller than 10 point, and would make it unacceptably difficult for assessors to read. If you attempt to fit two full pages of text onto one sheet of paper by photocopying the pages in a reduced format, assessors will count that sheet of paper as two pages; if the reduction has made the print so small that it cannot be read, that sheet of paper will not be scored. You may, however, place more than one small piece of an artifact or student work (related to the same activity/assignment) on the same sheet of paper. For example, if one photograph is not sufficient to show both sides of a three-dimensional artifact, you could mount two small photographs onto the same piece of paper to count as one artifact. For student work, if a student wrote one short paragraph on one page and a second short paragraph of the same assignment on a second page, you could photocopy the text and place both paragraphs on one sheet of paper. Do not cut and paste student work from one assignment to be on the same page with student work from another assignment.
Keep in mind that, whether a piece of student work or an artifact has been photocopied or not, if it is not legible, assessors will not be able to read it or understand it and it will not count in your score. If you photocopy several photographs and reduce them to fit on one page, for example, assessors will not be able to see any detail of the individual photographs. In submitting student work and artifacts, remember that it is best to choose carefully and submit student work and artifacts that clearly show the teaching and learning in your classroom. The page limits for student work and artifacts have been established with care. Remember that for all of your portfolio submissions, simply submitting more material does not increase your score. If an entry allows you to submit three pages of instructional artifacts, the better choice would be to submit three full-size copies of meaningful instructional artifacts rather than photocopying six pages of text and images and trying to fit those onto three sheets of paper. It is the quality of what you submit, not the quantity, that determines your score.
You may not reduce the size of any original writing to be smaller than the equivalent of a 10-point font. Remember that you must stay within the page limits specified for each entry. You may not submit pages with information on both sides of a page. If you submit pages with text or photos on both sides of a page, each side of those pages will count as one page toward your page limit for that entry. Remember that you must meet the requirements for each entry, and that you should focus on the quality of evidence you submit, rather than on the quantity. Do not submit more student work than is required for each entry.
You must follow the directions in the Format Specifications for how to submit each part of your portfolio. Do not use staples to attach cover sheets to your papers. Use paper clips only. Neither written work nor other artifacts should be submitted in plastic sleeves or special binding. Read and follow the directions contained in the Instructions for Packaging and Returning Your Portfolio to NBPTS.
Yes. Assigning and collecting homework is part of a teacher's normal classroom routine. In addition, samples of writing, art, or other work produced voluntarily by your students may reveal the depth of learning your students have achieved.
Your Written Commentary for each entry must be in English. Student work and videotapes must be in English and/or Spanish for all certificate areas except EA/ELA and AYA/ELA, which require that student work and videotapes be in English. We recognize that languages other than English and Spanish are frequently used in the classroom. Therefore, as in previous years, student work samples and videotapes may include brief expressions or phrases in a language other than English or Spanish. The inclusion of such expressions or phrases must be limited since assessors will not have fluency in languages other than English or Spanish. If expressions or phrases in languages other than English and/or Spanish are included, candidates should include brief explanations in their written commentary that accompanies each portfolio response. Candidate responses containing student work samples and/or videotapes that require assessors to have fluency in a language other than English or Spanish, or which require significant explanations or translations, cannot be scored in this administration.
The two major reasons that we ask you to remove identifications of people and locations are (1) to protect the identities of third parties, especially students and their parents; and (2) to ensure that assessors do not draw any conclusions about your response based on their ideas about where you teach. In entries 1"4, the focus is on your teaching accomplishments in the classroom, and the evidence of this¤student work samples, instructional artifacts and your own understanding of your teaching is found in your classroom. Your name, the names of your students, their families, and your colleagues, and the name of your school are not needed by assessors to evaluate your teaching.
Entries 5 and 6, the Documented Accomplishments entries, focus on your accomplishments outside the classroom and require that you submit documentation of your accomplishments. Your name must appear on the documentation that you submit so that assessors can confirm that this was your accomplishment. Persons signing Verification Forms will also use their first and last names. The name of the state or school district will also often appear on documentation that is submitted. The reason for the difference is simply the difference in the nature of the materials that are submitted.
The following documents require double-spacing: the Written Commentary for Entries 1-4 (including the Record of Reflection for EAYA/Art), the Descriptions for Documented Accomplishments and the Interpretive Summary for Documented Accomplishments. You may single-space on Student Work Caption Sheets, Instructional Artifact Cover Sheets, Verification Forms, Communication Logs, and similar documents.
Because the Written Commentary is geared towards an analysis of individuals, it is difficult to discuss one student's development within the context of a group artifact. It is only acceptable to submit group work when the sample is the result of an individual performance within a group.
The questions in the Written Commentary section of the entry instructions should be responded to, but do not type the questions themselves as part of your actual response for the entry. Use the bolded section titles for your headings, and then type your answers to the questions for that section.
Classroom-based entries that ask for an analysis of student work samples require the students whose work is submitted to fall strictly within the age parameters of the portfolio. Individual students who appear in videos do not have to fall within these specifications, but the class as a whole does.
Graphics that are connected to your discussion and/or your analysis may be included. Candidates are encouraged to reserve most of the page allowance for this in-depth analysis, which counts more than any other factor in scoring.
A candidate may utilize the many sources available in choosing prompts/assignments. Writing workshops, composition systems, conferences, and curriculum publications are just a few viable sources a candidate might use in constructing lessons.
A brief description of the assignment/prompt should be written on the cover sheet or an attached sheet (as stated on the cover sheet). The assignment/prompt itself would be the actual assignment sheet/handout that you gave to your students, or your transcription of an assignment that you wrote on the chalkboard or gave verbally.
Non-print text includes film, a work of art, a staged production, or a recording. You may use the internet as a source for non-print media.
Your Written Commentaries must be typed, but instructional materials should be submitted in the same form as they are presented in your classroom.
The Fictional Narrative prompt and the SS-History prompt may or may not be related. It is up to the candidate to decide.
Although assessors have the necessary educational background and are experienced in their field, candidates from almost every state submit their portfolios for scoring. Too many regional differences exist for assessors to know state specific tests, local organizations, and district mandates. If candidates refer to these items in their Written Commentaries, it is suggested they spell them out in order to avoid confusion and to facilitate the scoring process.
Quoted material should simply be referenced in parenthesis in the text. Footnotes are not required.
While goals sometimes apply to all students, you may have specific goals for different students. You may organize your Written Commentary so that the information that applies to more than one student is presented first with an analysis of individuals coming afterwards. You will not be penalized by assessors for "reorganizing" the outlined questions.
A performance that is written in a font that is smaller than 10 points is not disqualified. If the font is 9 points or less, the decision is made to score an equivalent amount of the original translated into 10 points. This usually means that a few pages will not be scored. If a Written Commentary is typed in a compressed font, a similar solution is found. A performance with text in both a compressed and an undersized font may be disqualified.
Suggested page lengths for each section of a Written Commentary are included for each entry to help you make decisions about how much to write for each section. These suggested page lengths are merely provided as a guide for you to use as you prepare Written Commentaries. If you find that you are able to complete a section using fewer pages than the suggested page length for that section, you can use the remaining page count for that section to complete another section of the Written Commentary. Keep in mind that your Written Commentaries must not exceed the maximum total page lengths established. (Pages in excess of the maximum will not be scored.) However, you are not required to submit the maximum number of pages in order for your entries to be scorable.
Feedback is specifically mentioned in the standards for the Early Adolescence and the Adolescence and Young Adulthood/English Language Arts certificates. However, NBPTS recognizes that all accomplished teaching involves the specific use of feedback by orally communicating instructional objectives to students or by providing a rubric or written notations on student work. For student work-based entries, very often the questions for the Written Commentary include a query about what feedback the candidate provided to the student. Feedback should be frequent and supportive and encourage and enhance student learning.
No, optional instructional artifacts are not scored. They simply help assessors understand your assignment/prompt and the lesson you are featuring in the entry.
Assessors are looking for a "fit" between your evidence and your discussions. Therefore, you should definitely include the pages you reference in your Written Commentary. If your assignment requires an abundance of prewriting, you might consider a combination of pages from the rough draft and pages from the final draft. Wherever possible, include student work that shows both problems that the student had with the assignment/prompt and progress that the student made.
There are 3 (total) artifacts which may be submitted: one representing each major part of the evidence (one or both questions, instruction formulated in response to one or both of the questions, and analysis). There can be no more than a total number of six (6) pages representing all three of these artifacts. It is the candidate's choice whether to distribute the pages evenly between the three artifacts (2 pages relating to questions, 2 pages relating to instruction and 2 to analysis) or unevenly between them.
In every case, it is up to you to decide whether to submit an Artifact or a Verification Form. Your decision should be based on which type of documentation will most clearly communicate the nature of your accomplishments. You do not need to submit both an Artifact and a Verification Form for the same accomplishment¤either one alone is sufficient for verifying an accomplishment. The descriptions that follow explain when to use Artifacts and Verification Forms.
Artifacts: These are documents produced by your engaging in activities such as developing presentations or writing articles, working on curricula, giving workshops for colleagues, winning awards and recognitions. What you submit as documentation in these cases is a copy of the title page, the award, the table of contents, a letter that summarized your work, or the like.
Verification Forms: These are forms signed by colleagues, parents, and/or community members that comment on your description of an accomplishment and confirm its accuracy. Many activities of great significance do not leave a paper trail that you can copy and send. In these cases¤for example, working consistently with colleagues in after-school tutoring programs, setting up community-school information workshops, sharing with colleagues strategies and techniques you have used successfully, serving as a mentor or peer coach you will find someone who knows what you have done, and that person will verify your description using the Verification Form.
Remember that convincing evidence is always evidence that represents more than just what any one person says. What you say in your descriptions is very important, but it cannot stand alone. Assessors look for the connections between what you say in the description and what you attach as documentation to support it. You are allowed to submit a maximum of 15 pages of Documentation for this entry. This means that you must be selective and make each choice count. It is the quality of the evidence, not its quantity, that matters in scoring this entry.
As long as the June, July, and August activities are related to the 1996-1997 calendar school year, your accomplishments will be acceptable.
Yes, NBPTS recognizes that a candidate might not have been employed by the same school for the last five years due to relocation, illness, or other unforeseen factors. Therefore, it is acceptable to submit activities and accomplishments from a school other than the one where you are currently employed.
It is unavoidable that candidates will share similar activities with other candidates, especially if they work at the same school. The fact that you both may submit proof of attending the same workshop does not disqualify your submission. You should note, however, that simply because you both attended the same workshops and in-services does not mean that your scores will be the same. What each individual candidate does with the knowledge or skills acquired at such activities will determine the strength of this activity. Assessors will look to see if the activity has been related to student learning and what significance it has within the candidate's teaching context.
Yes, you may highlight information such as your name, the date and other important items with a colored marker to make it easier for assessors to spot.
As you will notice when you look at the Verification Form that appears in Documented Accomplishments I and II, the front side is a letter explaining the purpose of the Verification Form to the verifier. On the back side of this letter is the Verification Form, where you will describe the accomplishment you are asking your colleague to verify, and the verifier will note his or her comments below your description. Printing this form with text on two sides ensures that your verifier will receive the appropriate instructions.
Assessors read the cover letter once, when they review the entry instructions during training. During live scoring, assessors will only be concerned with the side of this form that has your description and the signature of your verifier; therefore, NBPTS counts this as one page. The reason that you must submit all of your written work printed on only one side of the page is to facilitate the reading of your portfolio entries during scoring, and so that none of your work is inadvertently overlooked because it appeared on the back side of a page.
The two major reasons that we ask you to remove identifications of people and locations are (1) to protect the identities of third parties, especially students and their parents; and (2) to ensure that assessors do not draw any conclusions about your response based on their ideas about where you teach.
Entries 5 and 6, the Documented Accomplishments entries, focus on your accomplishments outside the classroom and require that you submit documentation of your accomplishments. Your name must appear on the documentation that you submit so that assessors can confirm that this was your accomplishment. Persons signing Verification Forms will also use their first and last names. The name of the state or school district will also often appear on documentation that is submitted. The reason for the difference is simply the difference in the nature of the materials that are submitted.
This documentation will consist of Artifacts and/or Verification Forms as proof of your accomplishments outside the classroom. The format of this kind of evidence is different than the evidence you submit in Entries 1"4. Obviously, you must not remove information identifying you from evidence submitted in Documented Accomplishments I and II, because assessors must know whose evidence they are evaluating. The full name of anyone who verifies your accomplishments must also appear. Geographic identification, especially of the school in which you teach, is generally unnecessary and may be removed by correction fluid when appropriate.
Use the guidelines below to determine which identifying information is needed.
The same person may verify one accomplishment within an area for Documented Accomplishments I and II, but may not verify more than one accomplishment in an area. For example, a person who verifies an accomplishment within Area 1 of Documented Accomplishments II may not verify another accomplishment within Area 1, but could verify an accomplishment in Area 2 and Area 3. While it is possible for only one person to verify all of a candidate's accomplishments, it is more likely that convincing evidence will come from more than just one source.
There is no prohibition against including a résumé or curriculum vitae as part of the documentation for Documented Accomplishments I or II; however, such documents typically only list accomplishments and highlight various activities. Scoring of the Documented Accomplishments focuses on description of each selected accomplishment and the documentation that supports it, as well as the significance of those specific accomplishments. Attaching a résumé or curriculum vitae that lists various activities and their significance is unlikely to affect the score a candidate receives. Candidates should also note that these materials would count toward the page limits for the entry.
You may place related activities on one Verification Form. The accomplishments that you choose to feature may involve a set of activities or events that are all related to a unified goal or outcome. Such complex accomplishments may require lengthy descriptions in which you enumerate all or most of the steps you took or activities you engaged in. Please note that it is not necessary to provide a specific piece of documentation for every small part of a complex accomplishment, as long as the documentation you choose to submit supports the overall picture painted by your description. For example, you may have attended multiple workshops addressing a single topic, such as classroom management or a new area of curriculum. You do not need to provide documentation that you attended each and every one of those workshops, especially if the evidence is repetitive, such as proofs of registration. Perhaps a better selection of documentation in such a case would be documentation of your attendance at one workshop, followed by documentation that shows your growth in understanding and use of the new information and/or skills that you acquired over the course of prolonged study.
Entry 5 for the Exceptional Needs portfolio is similar to certificates 1-12. Outreach to Families, Entry 6 is a bit different. Like all certificates, there are three areas listed; however, Areas 1 and 2 are both mandatory. Area One, requiring a mandatory response, lists accomplishments that demonstrate convincing and substantial evidence that you gained insight about students through partnerships with families. The evidence must come from the current year. Area Two, also mandatory, lists accomplishments that demonstrate convincing and substantial evidence of your ability to collaborate with families to support their children's education. Responses must come from the current year as well. Area three lists accomplishments that demonstrate convincing and substantial evidence of your ability to serve as a link in family resource networks. Evidence for Area Three must also come from the current school year.
Some overlap of evidence is acceptable for Entries 5 & 6; however, while there is no prohibition against candidates submitting the same evidence for both entries, the different focus of the two entries makes it unlikely that the same activities would simultaneously provide good evidence of both collaboration in the professional community and outreach to families and community. Also, while one activity may occur in both entries, there should be other activities that are not common to both.
For evidence that appears in a language other than English, candidates may submit a separate sheet that translates the documentation/verification. This separate sheet transcription would not count towards the
The entry requires candidates to submit 4 student artifacts that may total up to 12 pages. The four artifacts may not total more than 12 pages. Thus, one artifact may actually be more than a single page and may be a combination of related activities. For example, one of your artifacts for the Selected Learning Experience may be a three page artifact: one page of children's work samples, one page of teacher-constructed materials, and one page of conversational transcripts. All artifacts should help assessors understand the nature of the learning. Please note that you do not have to use all 12 pages of the allowance.
It is up to the candidate to decide. There are no limitations on the maximum period of time artifacts may span.
For Option A you may submit running and/or anecdotal records. One page will count as one artifact. Yes, a dictation that the child told to the teacher that helps to illustrate a picture may be submitted as one artifact. The dictation may be typed/written next to the picture on the same sheet of paper. This combination of picture and accompanying dictation counts as one page of artifact.
Do not change the child's words; simply provide assessors with a legible version that is spelled using conventional spelling. You do not have to edit the student work sample for punctuation.
No, it is not required that your videotape show conflict resolution. This is but one path. There are other opportunities that may illustrate how your children are involved in creating a classroom community.
The two videotaped segments may be filmed on the same day, on consecutive school days or even over a weekend. The important point is that you feature a single learning experience.
The Guide to National Board Certification lists 6 as the minimum number of students necessary to complete the Early Childhood/Generalist portfolio. For the Classroom Community videotape, EC/Gen candidates should be videotaping their entire classroom of students, not just 6 students. Students should not be removed from the classroom. Also, a videotape with six students would represent a small teaching preparation.
No. As long as you have one original Student Release Form signed by a student's parent or legal guardian, you may make copies as necessary for use in other entries.
Follow all specifications in the portfolio entry directions for presentation of written material. Obviously, student work will not always be typed, and you cannot ensure that persons filling out Verification Forms will use a typewriter. You should use your best judgment when filling out forms and labeling artifacts. The main concern for assessors is that all written materials, whether typewritten or handwritten, are neat and legible.
If you do not submit all six portfolio entries, those entries that you do submit will be scored. You will have to pay an additional fee to submit the other entries during a subsequent cycle. If you submit an entry that is incomplete and cannot be scored because it is missing a critical component, such as the Written Commentary, student work samples, or the videotape, the entry will not be scored. You will have to pay an additional fee to resubmit the entry during a subsequent cycle.
No. Please note that although NBPTS recognizes that candidates may have a personal crisis, such as a death in the family or serious illness, and we sympathize with the candidate's situation, it is not possible to allow candidates extensions of the deadline. Scoring of the portfolios begins almost immediately after the portfolios from all candidates have arrived and been checked in. It is not feasible at this time to score a portfolio outside of the normal scoring window. Since the portfolios are available for at least five months before the portfolio deadline, candidates have time to complete their work if they begin working on the portfolio when they receive it. Candidates who become seriously ill during the process should consider withdrawing from the process for that cycle; if they withdraw before the portfolio due date, they will receive a refund minus the $300 processing fee. Completing the portfolio requires a great deal of energy and effort, and NBPTS does not recommend that a seriously ill candidate undertake this process. If candidates feel they cannot meet the deadline but have completed some entries, they may submit for scoring those entries they have completed and apply to retake the rest during the next cycle.
NBPTS does not automatically approve or disapprove of topics. If a suggested topic is manifestly not what the entry instructs, NBPTS will simply inform you that the topic does not appear to meet the entry requirements. For example, if an entry requires that your instruction combine social studies with the arts, and your suggested topic instead combines math and science, the reply that you would get is that the topic does not appear to meet the entry requirements. NBPTS cannot comment on whether your lesson topic is "good" or "bad." You are the person who is most familiar with your students and your teaching situation; it is up to you to determine if a particular lesson and/or instructional strategy is appropriate for your students at this point.
Similarly, NBPTS cannot help you choose which Big Idea in Science to use in an entry that requires one. The only response you can obtain is to be told that either your Big Idea is or is not listed in the tables of major ideas in science included in the science content standards section of Getting Started.
Candidates may submit student work samples from any part of the calendar school year that corresponds with their portfolio cycle.
Mentors may choose to "share" their portfolios with candidates; however, they should not allow them to be copied. It is important to note that one portfolio represents only one path to certification and is not a blueprint for the process. As an added caution, lessons that one mentor used may have been appropriate for his/her students, but not appropriate for a different set of students. NBPTS is not looking for a particular lesson or activity for teachers to submit for each entry. There are no "right" lessons or "magic bullets" in completing the portfolio, and a current candidate should not attempt to simulate lessons or instructional strategies of a candidate who has already achieved certification based on the assumption that using the same lessons or instructional strategies will also result in achieving certification.
No, the Verification Forms do not have to be submitted in a special sealed envelope. You may be told otherwise by someone who went through the certification process a few years ago, when sealed envelopes were required for these forms. NBPTS no longer requires them to be sealed because unsealing the envelopes would cause significant delays in scoring, given the volume of candidates going through the certification process.
The portfolio requires candidates to submit a photocopy of their ID. If your name has changed, send in a copy of a photo ID for both of your names. Also, please send in a statement declaring that you changed your name from ___________ to ___________ on this date.
You may scan forms included in the portfolio such as the Verification Form, the Communication Log, Cover Sheets, and the Classroom Layout Sheet.
Students over 18 may sign their own release forms as long as they are recognized as legal adults by the state. If they have a disability that makes it impossible for them to sign their own release form, then the parents/guardians should sign the form.
This form is for adults who appear in your videotapes or in photographs that you submit as part of your portfolio. Typically, such adults might be student teachers, teacher aides, etc. who may routinely be in your classroom and would be in a videotape or photograph. You must obtain signed release forms from any adult who is featured in a videotape or photograph that you want to submit. Please note that it is not necessary to obtain a release form from adults who appear in photographs that have already been published. For example, if you are submitting a newspaper clipping that includes a photograph of you and your colleagues participating in an activity, you do not have to obtain a release form for the people in the already published photograph.
No technical procedure has been violated; however, teachers of students with exceptional needs should consider the scoring instrument in this situation. Every assessor for NBPTS has been chosen because of his/her field of expertise. Assessors in a certificate area not specific to Exceptional Needs do not necessarily have the expertise required to evaluate the performances of Exceptional Needs candidates. It is difficult for assessors to apply the rubric when they are presented with unfamiliar techniques. A teaching strategy for students with significant impairments might be completely inappropriate for regular students and vice versa. These and many other considerations must be taken into account before the choice of certificate is made.
The scoring guide for any certificate area contains the scoring rubrics that have been finalized after the first full cycle of scoring has taken place. The four new certificates (Exceptional Needs, Vocational Education and English as a New Languages-both EMC & EAYA) in the 1999-00 cycle will complete their initial scoring this summer and the rubrics will not be finalized until then. The new Scoring Guides will be mailed out with the score reports on or before March 31, 2001. Nevertheless, all portfolios, regardless of their scoring status, contain rubrics. A level 4 score (the highest score) is accessible for all candidates. This bulleted list may be found in each entry in the section entitled "How Will My Response Be Scored."
The prompts that appear in the scoring guide are "released prompts" from previous cycles. They are not necessarily the prompts that will be given to candidates this year. The booklet describes the general scoring system that was used to score performances and gives information about the rubrics that assessors used to score the portfolio entries and Assessment Center exercises.
NBPTS has always recognized that most special education teachers do work with students that need a "little extra" help and not just with students with IEP's; however, for the purposes of National Board Certification, it is recommended that candidates in the Exceptional Needs area should support their entries with work from students who do have an Individualized Education Plan.
Yes, these candidates have the option of supporting each portfolio entry with the work of students from different specialty areas. For example, candidates in Exceptional Needs may support Entry One with the work of students from the Mild/Moderate cluster while supporting Entry 2 with the work of students in the Severe/Multiple cluster. Candidates are reminded that they must commit to one pathway for the assessment exercises.
NBPTS recognizes that team teachers often share the same classroom, students, rubrics, and lessons. This would not automatically disqualify the performance of a candidate who is a member of a teaching team. However, team teachers must keep in mind that although they may be submitting the exact same assignment/prompts, their analyses, student work artifacts, and videotapes must be completely original.
Candidates do not have to refer directly to each standard, although it is acceptable to do so. The standards booklet for the certificate area is the first document that assessors study before formal training even begins. By the time of scoring, they are able to internalize and apply NBPTS Standards as critical evaluative dimensions. Assessors look for evidence that the candidate has actually met the standards in his/her teaching. Keep in mind that the page allowance for any Written Commentary is limited and should be saved for a deep analysis of instruction.
Each of the classroom-based portfolio entries must be supported by different units or lessons. NBPTS has included an Entry Tracking Form in the portfolio Introduction to help you ensure that the units featured in your entries do not overlap. In addition to featuring different lessons and units, the student responses must involve different students. In other words, no group of student responses can be taken from a unit or lesson that is featured in any other entry.
The NBPTS definition of "unit" is a section of an academic course based on selected themes or concepts. A unit may correspond to a chapter in a text. It is up to the candidate to decide if the lesson is thematically different enough to support its own classroom-based entry. Please note that many candidates support long instructional periods and even semesters with one unit. In this case, "units" are divided into different divisions. These divisions would constitute a separate lesson or unit and would be acceptable by NBPTS tracking regulations. Again, it is up to the candidate to decide if his/her entries are being supported by different units or lessons.
NBPTS cannot make the decision for a candidate whether or not to use certain classes in support of their portfolio work. Past candidates have utilized speech classes for the Language Arts certificates and psychology classes in supporting the AYA/Social Studies-History certificate. If the class is obviously not within the content parameters (for example, the performance illustrates science subject matter only when it should reflect an art lesson), the entry would not be scored. No permission would guarantee success for an entry supported by an "elective" class such as psychology or speech. If a candidate chooses to support an entry with a class of this type, it would be scored like any other performance. Ultimately though, it is up to the candidate to address the instructions, requirements and the standards for each entry which determine a successful score.
Renewal is based on the 5 core propositions. National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) will submit evidence and write commentary that ties the evidence of their continued practice to the 5 core propositions. Recertification, by contrast, is based on the standards for a certificate area, and would require that a teacher engage in the entire NBPTS assessment all over again.
Renewal will be available to all National Board Certified Teachers certified through the year 2001. NBCTs who have left the classroom yet desire to maintain National Board Certification may seek Renewal.
It is anticipated that the Renewal criteria and process will be presented to the NBPTS board of directors for approval in October 2001 and published in November 2001. The first cohort of NBCTs may apply beginning in November of 2001. At that time, the first group of NBCTs, certified in 1994, will have entered the eighth year of certification.
It is probable that scoring for Renewal will be based on a threshold criterion. That is, evidence linked by commentary to the National Board's 5 core propositions that meets the criterion performance level set by the NBPTS board of directors will qualify a candidate for Renewal. It is anticipated that NBCTs will assess the evidence of continued accomplished practice.
NBCTs will have another opportunity to submit additional evidence and develop their commentary to meet the criterion. After the tenth year, National Board Certification is either successfully renewed or expires.
In 1997, NBCTs were surveyed to determine the kind of process they would prefer for Renewal. NBCTs expressed an interest in a mini-portfolio and/or a documented accomplishments entry.
A National Teacher Renewal Development Team, working with the developers, is charged with the development of the process. The 12 member Team consists entirely of NBCTs: 7 who are teaching in K-12 classrooms, and 5 who are no longer teaching yet continue to work in education areas.
A 12 member Focus Group advises on the process. It consists of representatives from candidate support networks, state departments of education, school districts, as well as teacher educators, policy-makers, and education administrators.
The proposed Renewal assessment will be sent out for expert reviews by policymakers and NBCTs. There will be continuing opportunities for NBCTs to shape the process. A Renewal update will be provided at the NBCT Annual Meetings in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
NBCTs will be invited to try out some of the activities of Renewal as development progresses. The purpose of these pilot tests is to make sure the instructions are clear and that the intended results are scorable.
NBCTs will be trained to score the performances of their peers seeking Certificate Renewal. It is anticipated that the first panel would convene in 2002.
If field trips are part of your normal classroom routine, it is acceptable to use a field trip as the lesson featured in a videotape-based entry. If you make a videotape in a location other than a classroom, be sure to fill out the layout form or describe the setting in your Written Commentary so the assessors will better understand what is taking place in your videotape.
If a brief disturbance occurs during a lesson you are videotaping for an entry, you may still be able to use the lesson. Interruptions such as someone knocking on the door to your classroom, an announcement on the public address system, or your telephone ringing are all routine parts of a teaching day. As long as the situation is brief enough that you can get the lesson back on track without causing much delay or confusion, the lesson may still be suitable for submission with your portfolio. If someone accidentally identifies any person by his or her full name during the taping, you should not let this keep you from submitting the tape of that lesson. (Do not edit the tape to "bleep" out the last name; doing so would be regarded as editing the videotape and would disqualify it.) The mention of someone's name in a videotape should not be disruptive or repeated. However, you must still take care not to mention anyone by his or her full name in your Written Commentary and other written work.
As a general rule, NBPTS does not intend for you to do anything that would create an unnatural teaching situation in order to meet the requirements for each portfolio entry. However, teachers occasionally find themselves in a classroom situation that does not seem conducive to fulfilling the specifications for completing a particular entry, especially the videotape-based entries. For example, the size or configuration of a classroom may make it impossible for a teacher to circulate around the room or to arrange students into small groups while videotaping. In such cases, NBPTS can recommend ways for teachers to complete the entries so that all specifications can be met without creating an unnatural teaching situation. If you have concerns that your classroom or teaching situation may make it difficult to complete an entry according to all requirements, contact NBPTS by any mode of submission as listed on page 3. Be sure to include your name, certificate area, candidate ID number, and a phone number where you can be reached during daytime hours.
Yes. You may make your videotape using a camera other than a VHS camera and then copy it onto a new blank VHS tape. The VHS tape you submit should have clear video and audio of high enough quality that assessors can hear most of what you and your students say. Keep in mind that the tape you submit should not appear to have been edited in any way, and it should not have any special effects. If your tape appears to have been edited, or if it violates any other specification, the tape will be considered unscorable.
It is important for scorers to see the facial expressions of students and to understand how you work with them. Both the people who are interacting in class and the teacher should be seen and heard. Your face should be shown clearly and sufficiently enough in the videotape to identify you. However, what is more crucial in the video-based entries is that some of the video footage allows assessors to see the facial expressions of both you and your students. Facial expressions, along with action and sound, provide assessors with important information about the effectiveness of the communication between you and your students. Taken together, all these elements of a videotape and the Written Commentary should work together to meet the entry requirements AND give assessors a clear understanding of what you are trying to convey about your teaching.
Teacher redirection is a routine part of classroom management. It will not disqualify a video nor does it automatically lower the entry score.
You may submit a copy of this instruction as an instructional artifact.
A video will not be disqualified because of its length. If it exceeds the time limit, only the footage that is within the time limit will be viewed and scored. If it is not as long as the entry allows, the critical question is whether it includes everything that was specified in the entry instructions. It is doubtful, for example, that a five-minute videotape will demonstrate all of the teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction that the entry may require, while a 15-minute videotape might easily meet the entry requirements for interaction. In general, it is not advisable to submit a videotape that is less than half the maximum length.
For videotape entries that require a discussion by the whole class, candidates should be filming their entire classroom. In other words, every student on the roster who is present and has submitted a Release Form should appear in the videotape. Teachers should not "pick and choose" which students to feature. This does not mean that each and every student must be shown in the videotaped lesson. The main objective in a whole class discussion is to show that the teacher is effectively engaging the entire class as a group.
It is best to focus on one group at a time in order that assessors may have a clear understanding of the verbal interactions on tape.
Your seating arrangements may have students organized into small groups; however, the teacher must be orchestrating a whole class discussion. This means that the student-to-student interactions should occur between all members of the class and not just within the small groups.
In an effort to give every candidate an equal opportunity, certain guidelines have been established for the submission of videotapes. Candidates may not submit "edited" videotapes, defined as post-production processing of the film itself or cuts in an otherwise continuous segment. This includes elimination of unwanted segments, additional footage, or fade-ins and fade-outs. Editing for sound would also be considered post-production treatment. Putting your videotape through an equalizer is an example of sound editing. In addition, videotape segments may not be created with two or more cameras giving the tape a "studio" effect. However, candidates may make use of special microphones called External Pressure Zone (PZM) microphones, which record the voices of students minus the background noise.
For video entries that require a discussion by the whole class, candidates should be videotaping their entire classroom. In other words, every student on the roster who is present and has submitted a Release Form should be in the classroom during videotaping. Teachers should not "pick and choose" which students to feature. This does not mean that each and every student must be shown in the videotaped lesson. The main objective in a whole class discussion is to show that the teacher is effectively engaging the entire class as a group.
One or two inadvertent uses of a student's first and last name are acceptable. If the use of students' last names is frequent or repeated, we strongly discourage submitting the videotape. See "Naming Persons, Institutions, and Places in Entry Materials" in the portfolio introduction for information on why using last names should be avoided.
The assessment center portion of the NBPTS certification assessment is a one-day written assessment that focuses primarily on pedagogical content knowledge. All assessment center exercises for all certificate areas are delivered on a computer screen. At a Sylvan Technology Center, candidates are able to choose to respond to the assessment center exercises by using the word processor provided or by hand writing. Tutorials on the use of the computer for responding are provided. Each appointment (for first-time candidates) for an NBPTS assessment is eight hours, with six (6) hours of actual assessment and two (2) hours for check-in, tutorials, collection of background information, and breaks.
In early March, candidates will receive copies of the Assessment Center Orientation Booklet, which contains information on the kind of prompts that candidates will respond to at the assessment center. If an exercise requires that candidates read or study certain information before arriving at the assessment center, candidates will receive a list of those materials and/or copies of such materials with the Assessment Center Orientation Booklet. Candidates must decide how best to prepare for the assessment center portion of the assessment based on their own knowledge and experience. If possible, it would be advisable for candidates to follow the same sort of preparations suggested for students preparing to take a standardized test: get a good night's sleep before attending the assessment center, eat what you normally would for breakfast, and arrive early at the testing center.
Yes, your assessment center scores will be banked, but you will have to pay additional fees to submit the portfolio during a subsequent cycle.
Candidates who are retaking one, two, three, or four assessment center exercises should contact the Sylvan Center Customer Services Call Center (CSCC) beginning March 15, 2000 to schedule your appointment. It is important that you follow the directions below. Do not call your local test center as local centers are not able to schedule retest appointments.
Sylvan Customer Services Call Center (CSCC)
1-800-226-7958 (Select Option 1)
Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Once your appointment has been scheduled, if you need to reschedule for any reason, please repeat the instructions above and telephone the CSCC at 1-800-226-7958 and select Option 1. Be prepared to provide a credit card number as there is a $45 rescheduling fee.
All candidates who are retaking one, two, three or four of any NBPTS assessment center exercises must schedule their appointment during the normal assessment center testing window for their certification area.
When calling Sylvan to reschedule or cancel an appointment, it is important that you listen carefully to the options you are offered. If you wish to retain your eligible status and test within the current cycle, be certain to choose the CANCEL option only if you no longer wish to test within the current cycle. Please read the following before calling to either reschedule or cancel.
All first-time candidates EXCEPT EAYA/Art candidates may reschedule an appointment for the NBPTS assessment center by calling the Customer Services Call Center (1-800-226-7958) or the specific Technology Center by noon four (4) business days prior to the scheduled appointment. Business days for Technology Center registration are Monday through Saturday.
EAYA/Art candidates must call to reschedule at least ten (10) business days before the scheduled appointment. This means that if your appointment is for a Friday, you must call to reschedule by noon on the Friday two weeks before the scheduled appointment, or sooner. For example, an appointment for June 18 must be changed by noon on June 4. The extra scheduling time is necessary for EAYA/Art candidates because of the stimulus materials that must be shipped to the technology center for each candidate.
Be aware that rescheduling an appointment for any of the NBPTS assessments may be difficult. Because this is an all-day assessment, it may be difficult in some areas of the country (particularly North Carolina and Florida, where candidate volume is very high) to obtain a second appointment. You should make every effort to keep your original appointment. The fee for rescheduling your appointment is $45.00.
If you do not keep your appointment for any reason, and do not reschedule by noon on the second business day prior to your appointment (10 business days in advance for EAYA/Art candidates and retake candidates), you must call the NBPTS at 1-800-532-1813 to reactivate your eligibility. You will be required to send a check or money order for $150 in order to reinstate your eligibility for the assessment center. You will be contacted by NBPTS when your check has been received and you may call to reschedule your appointment four (4) business days following that notification. Please follow the same procedures as when you initially scheduled:
First Time Candidates " Call 1-800-226-7958 or the Technology Center of your choice.
Retake Candidates - Call 1-800-226-7958 " Select Option 1.
If after paying the retake fee for an exercise, you find that you cannot attend the assessment center this year, you may defer completion of the retake for one year. The fee will not be returned and NBPTS will require $100 per exercise to reinstate your deferred exercise(s). To defer any exercise, your request must be submitted in writing. Your written request to defer one or more exercises must be received by NBPTS at 6818 S. Zarzamora Street, San Antonio, Texas 78224, no less than four (4) business days before your appointment at the assessment center. (Saturday and Sunday are not considered business days.) If you do not submit the request to defer and do not attend the scheduled appointment, the retake fee will be forfeited. The reinstatement fee(s) must be paid and a new retake application must be completed during the next administrative cycle. You will then need to make an appointment at the Technology Center.
Call the Technology Center at least two (2) business days prior to your appointment to confirm your assessment center date, and exact location. You should reference the confirmation number and the date you scheduled your appointment when you call to confirm you assessment center appointment.
On the day of your appointment, you must take the following items with you:
During the assessment center exercises, you are permitted to use only certain materials that you may have brought with you:
Candidates may not bring hardcover or softcover textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, loose-leaf printed materials (held in ring binders), or other bound books or bound printed materials to the test center. (Candidates may bring The Assessment Center Orientation Booklet, National Board Standards documents, any stimulus materials that candidates received in advance from the NBPTS, or calculator operating instructions. Candidates may also bring any notes made on blank or lined sheets of paper. However, information downloaded from the Internet cannot be brought into the assessment center.)
You will not be permitted to bring any of the following items into the testing room: beepers, watch calculators, highlighter pens, stereos or radios with headphones, cellular phones, watch alarms (including those with flashing lights or alarm sounds), translators, and any electronic devices (with the exception of the acceptable calculators described above).
The National Board is, and has always been, attentive to the issues of fairness and equity in its assessments. The National Board continually reviews the assessments to ensure that candidates are not disadvantaged by the content of the assessments or by the process of taking the assessments. Assessment center exercises are designed to assess each candidate's content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, not the textbooks or resource materials that a candidate might have or acquire. The National Board believes that no candidate will be disadvantaged as a result of this procedure.
Here are the conventions that govern the Sylvan Centers:
The computer will give you the option of taking short breaks between Exercises I and II and Exercises III and IV, and a 1-hour break between Exercises II and III. Although you are encouraged to take breaks at these times, doing so is not required. If you wish to leave your seat at any time other than for a scheduled break, raise your hand. Exercise timing will not stop for this type of break.
If you choose to handwrite your response at the assessment center, your candidate ID bar code labels will be affixed to your response to identify it.
Yes, candidates may type any self-generated notes they bring to the assessment center exercises.
The EA/Mathematics certificate is intended for teachers of students 11-15 and the assessment center is designed to assess knowledge that is relevant for teaching across this age range. All prompts were developed by current EA/Mathematics teachers. The EA/Mathematics assessment center examines the teacher's understanding of mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge appropriate for teachers of Early Adolescence Mathematics. As described in the EA/Mathematics Standards, teachers are expected to know and know how to teach: number and operations; algebra and functions, geometry and measurement, and statistics and data analysis. In addition, teachers are expected to know and know how to teach introductory concepts that are important to the study of calculus and discrete mathematics, such as minima, maxima, limits, permutations and combinations. (See Standard 3 of the EA/Mathematics Standards document for additional topics and information.)
The AYA/Mathematics certificate is intended for teachers of students 14-18+ and the assessment center is designed to assess knowledge that is relevant for teaching across this age range. All prompts were developed by current AYA/Mathematics teachers. The AYA/Mathematics assessment center examines the teacher's understanding of mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge appropriate for teachers of Adolescence and Young Adulthood Mathematics. As described in the AYA/Mathematics Standards, candidates should have a broad and deep knowledge of the five domains: algebra and functions, geometry, discrete mathematics, statistics and data analysis, and calculus. Candidates are requested to demonstrate their knowledge of four out of the five content domains. Each candidate selects the domains at the assessment center. (See Standard 3 of the AYA/Mathematics Standards document for additional topic descriptions and information.)
No. Each candidate will have the opportunity to answer the questions from his or her own vocational perspective. Each vocational candidate will "declare" his or her perspective, up front at the Assessment Center, by marking one of the eight clusters.
A stimulus-response question will provide you with works or stimulus that you must review before you compose your answer. Constructed response questions are usually, but not always, longer prompts that present a scenario for the candidate to respond to.
The main content of the Exceptional Needs assessment relates to the practice of proactive special education delivery: advocacy, cultural competence, family and community collaboration, positive social development, attention to the needs of the individual, and communication/literacy/oral and written language skills. Candidates for the Exceptional Needs certificate do not have to be knowledgeable about all five strands as distinguished by students' "disabling factor(s)" and age level: Early Childhood, Mild/Moderate Disabilities, Severe and Multiple Disabilities, Visual Impairments, and Deaf/Hard of Hearing. However, candidates will be responsible for their strand and what they teach. They will have to have the knowledge of subjects listed in the Standards for the age and ability of their students. If a particular content is going to be tapped, the candidate will be given prior notice and would be able to consult with other teachers and resources regarding the subject matter.
All candidates for any certificate must first thoroughly study the standards in the area for which they are applying. It is essential that candidates find the right "fit" for their teaching situation and can see just what they are being held to. In order to prepare for the assessment exercises, candidates must study Standard III: Knowledge of Mathematics. Teams of EA/Mathematics teachers working in collaboration with Educational Testing Service designed the EA/Mathematics questions. In addition, major contributors to the entire EA/Mathematics assessment were both math and non-math majors who were elementary trained. Non-math majors were also development team members, pilot participants, and formative scorers. An important point is that the assessment's content is held to the NB MCEA/Math Standards document. The Standards are high and rigorous. They specifically say that accomplished math specialists know mathematics beyond what they teach. They also clearly delineate which areas of math are part of an accomplished mathematics specialist's repertoire. Candidates who feel they may be especially challenged by the assessment exercises should form a study group to help themselves prepare for the content area in which they may be weakest.
The assessment center is designed to tap into content and pedagogical knowledge for the full age range of the path selected. Candidates for Exceptional Needs or Vocational Education may select the path which represents the area in which they have the most training and experience, even though it may not match the path(s)represented by their classroom portfolio. Candidates indicate a path choice for the assessment center on their Candidate Context Form.
In order to be eligible for National Board Certification, you must meet employment and education requirements. Candidates for National Board Certification must possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution, must have completed three years of successful teaching at one or more early childhood, elementary, middle or secondary schools, and must submit proof of holding a valid state teaching license for each of those three years (if required by the state). Candidates for National Board Certification must submit proof that they:
1. possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution;
A teacher with a baccalaureate degree awarded by an institution outside the United States must submit proof that the degree is the equivalent of a baccalaureate by submitting transcripts to an organization that belongs to the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services and attaching the documentation of the degree to the Education Verification Form that will be sent to candidates following initial application.
2. have completed three years of successful teaching at one or more early childhood, elementary, middle or secondary schools;
This must be three years of teaching experience; time spent in administrative positions does not count towards the requirement. Teaching done at the post-secondary level (community college or university/college teaching) does not count towards the requirement. Student teaching or tutoring does not count towards the requirement. The three years of teaching must have been completed prior to the first day of the school year (as defined by your facility/district) in which you are pursuing National Board Certification. That is, if you are applying to go through the certification process in the 2000-2001 cycle, your three years of employment must have been completed prior to the first day of your 2000-2001 school year. Teaching must have occurred at a facility within the United States or at an institution supported by the United States (i.e., DODD schools). Successful teaching, at a minimum, means that during the period of employment, you did not have your teaching license suspended or revoked.
Teachers who have taught part-time are eligible, provided that they have teaching employment that is the equivalent of three years of full-time teaching. Substitute teachers may count teaching time spent in long-term assignments towards the three years; substitute teaching that consisted of short-term or on-call assignments does not accrue towards the three years.
Candidates who worked for a Department of Defense (DODD) or for a state-supported school (United States) may submit this type of employment for the three years teaching experience requirement. Otherwise, NBPTS does not accept employment from a foreign institution.
Leave that box on the application form blank. Print the name of your college/university on a separate piece of paper and include it with your application form. The list will be updated annually to add missing institutions.
Yes, as long as you meet the eligibility prerequisites, you may apply for any certificate area for which you feel you can demonstrate accomplished teaching. You should remember that you will need to have access to students in the appropriate age range and content area for the certificate for which you are applying.
The design of NBPTS certification is for teachers who teach K - 12 (18+). The 18+ does not apply to college students, the "+" applies to those students in school who do not graduate when they are 18. There are some college professors who have completed the certification, but they have "borrowed" a K-12 class on which to base their entries/submissions and assessment center exercises. The standards envisioned students working towards high school degrees or the equivalent rather than students attending colleges.
National Board Certification is designed to assess a teacher's performance in a wide range of classroom settings. We encourage teachers to use more than one class in completing the portfolio entries in order to demonstrate the broadest range of their teaching practice. Therefore, teachers who have multiple classes that meet the age and content requirements should take advantage of the availability of these different classes when completing the classroom-based entries. However, if a teacher has access to only one class that meets the age and content requirements for their certificate area, it is permissible to use a single class for all four of the classroom-based entries. Please keep in mind that all four entries must come from different units and that work samples and artifacts must feature different students.
National Board Certification signifies that a teacher is accomplished, having met challenging professional teaching standards as evidenced by performance-based assessments. All candidates must address the requirements of the portfolio and the assessments. The assessments measure specific pedagogical content knowledge that is critical in teaching students about certain domains within each certificate area. With this in mind, teachers who are not currently in the classroom may "borrow" a classroom in order to complete the portfolio requirements for National Board Certification.
Candidates may "borrow" a classroom in order to complete the portfolio requirements for National Board Certification. The lesson would need to fit the content area of the certificate area, as defined in the standards. Students must meet the age parameters as well for the certificate. Inherent challenges exist for candidates who support their work with borrowed classes. We would encourage anyone in this situation to thoroughly study the demands of the entries and exercises before applying. If you are borrowing a class because you are not currently teaching, you may want to check the requirements of your state regarding any incentives and rewards that the state may grant in connection with the National Board Certification program. Some states require the candidate to be currently teaching or to be the "teacher of record" in order to receive any incentives or rewards.
Although the Vocational Education Standards may not specifically mention all vocational fields currently being taught in schools, this does not prohibit any teacher from pursuing the Vocational Education certificate if he or she believes that the EAYA/Voc Ed certificate is the NBPTS certificate most appropriate to his or her practice. Ultimately, however, this decision is up to the individual teacher. Our recommendation to any teacher - Vocational Education teachers included - is to study the Standards carefully in the certificate field, as well as the demands of the entries and exercises to determine if they will allow the teacher to demonstrate his or her level of accomplished teaching practice.
If you are uncertain whether your affirmative response to this question will make you ineligible for National Board candidacy, we urge you to submit information to NBPTS that documents your circumstances before you submit an application or any of the candidate fee to allow NBPTS time to review your documentation and make a determination of your eligibility prior to your application. Submitting this documentation with your application and fee, without prior review, will delay the mailing of any of the required assessment materials while a review of your documentation is undertaken. In addition, if you submit an initial payment and are subsequently determined to be ineligible for candidacy, the initial $300 fee is not refundable.
Scoring performance-based assessments is a lengthy and complex process. The majority of the assessment fee is used to pay for scoring.
No, candidates who withdraw will not be refunded $300 for processing nor the $200 late fee.
Requests for refunds before the portfolio due date for your certificate area will be honored less $300.00. All refund requests must be made in writing to the San Antonio post office box address; however, it is not necessary to state the reason for withdrawal. No refunds can be made after the portfolio due date. Candidates who pay the full assessment fee and submit a portfolio, but discover after the portfolio due date that they will be unable to complete the process during that assessment cycle, will have to pay the retake fee for any portfolio entries or assessment center exercises not completed during the initial attempt.
Information regarding your state can be found at the NBPTS web site www.nbpts.org.
Some federal monies have been allocated to states to help subsidize the assessment fee. Information regarding how individual states are administering these monies is available on the NBPTS web site www.nbpts.org.
Each state determines its own policies for incentives and rewards. NBPTS cannot make any assurances about whether a state will or will not provide incentives and rewards.
Several states now participate in teaching license portability for National Board Certified Teachers. The latest information on participating states can be found in the NBPTS publication "State and Local Action Update," which is revised monthly and available upon request by calling 800-22-TEACH.
Many previous candidates regard the certification process as the most rewarding professional development activity that they have undertaken. For many teachers, completing the portfolio is the first time that they have systematically analyzed both what they teach and why they teach the way they do.
Beginning with the 1996-97 cycle of National Board Certification candidates, NBPTS has instituted automatic banking of the individual entry and exercise scores of all candidates for a period of three years from the date of initial score notification. During this three-year period, candidates who did not achieve certification during their initial attempt may retake any combination of portfolio entries and/or assessment center exercises in the assessment package on which they did not meet the individual entry/exercise performance standard.
Candidates will have all of their scores automatically banked.
They will be automatically banked.
All scores will be banked for a period of three years from the date of initial score notification.
You may choose to retake any individual entry or exercise on which you received a score of less than 2.75. Scores of 2.75 or higher indicate that you have met the National Board's standard for that entry or exercise.
You may choose to retake any combination of entries and/or exercises on which you received a score of less than 2.75.
Entry and exercise retakes submitted in accordance with the National Board's submission guidelines and by the deadline for submission in the year of the retake application will be scored during the next available scoring cycle.
You will be notified of your new scores and your recalculated final scaled score on or before March 31, 2001.
You may choose to retake an entry or exercise on which you received a score of less than 2.75 as many times as you wish within the three year period beginning from initial score notification. Keep in mind that each time an exercise is retaken, the most current raw score will always replace the previous raw score.
If you receive National Board Certification after retaking one or more entries or exercises, the ten-year period begins from the date you receive certification.
You will be responding to the same prompt from your original portfolio; however, please note that some of the instructions may contain clarifications or additions such as page allowances for artifacts. Above all, the candidate should follow the retake kit instructions.
When you retake an assessment center exercise, you will be responding to a new prompt.
When you retake a portfolio entry, you must submit completely new analyses, student work samples, and videotapes. You may use the same assignment/prompts that you used in your original submission. NBPTS recognizes that some aspects of your teaching situation may not have changed, such as your general teaching context. Therefore, it is acceptable that this type of information be repeated. On the whole, at least 90% of your discussions should be different. For Documented Accomplishments I and II, you must submit completely new descriptions and an interpretive summary; however, most of your documentation for accomplishments prior to the current year may remain the same.
When you choose to retake an entry or exercise, your new score will automatically replace your original score even in cases when the new score is lower than your original score.
If your classroom teaching assignment changes during the retake period, you will still be eligible to retake entries or exercises. In some cases, you may need to "borrow" a class in order to fulfill the requirements of the portfolio entries. For example, if you are a candidate for the Early Childhood/Generalist certificate and you have been moved to a 4th grade classroom in which all of the students are 9 and 10 years old, you may need to "borrow" a class of children between the ages of 3 and 8 from another teacher in order to complete the portfolio entries.
If your assignment takes you out of the classroom during the retake period, you will still be eligible to retake entries or exercises; however, you will need to "borrow" a class in order to fulfill the requirements of the portfolio entries. For additional information on borrowing a class, see question #7 under Applying For National Board Certification.
All scoring decisions may be appealed by following the National Board's policy on Reconsideration of Certification/Scoring Decisions described in the Guide to National Board Certification. For a complete copy of the policy and all related procedures, please submit a written request to NBPTS at the San Antonio, Texas address listed in the Guide.
No extensions of the retake period will be granted.
If full payment has been received, you may elect to defer an entry or exercise by notifying NPBTS in writing that you wish to defer the entry/exercise. Your retake fee will be retained by NPBTS and a reactivation fee of $150 will be due in the next cycle year to complete the entry/exercise. Failure to reactivate your entry or exercise will result in all fees being forfeited and your score for that entry/exercise will be listed as "blank-not submitted." You would then need to pay the full retake fee of $300 to complete the portfolio entry or attend any assessment center exercise. To defer any entry/exercise, you must submit your request in writing before the deadline for submitting the entry or attending an assessment center session.
You may request additional score reports at any time by submitting a request in writing and including a $25 fee per report.
All candidate materials submitted by the submission deadline will be scored and those scores will be automatically banked. However, a final scaled score will be computed only for candidates who have submitted responses to ALL of the entries and exercises. It is possible, for example, for a candidate to meet the performance standard of 275 points or more without completing all ten entries and exercises. However, candidates who do not submit responses to all of the entries or exercises will have an incomplete score profile. National Board Certification WILL NOT be awarded to candidates with incomplete score profiles.
Yes, candidates may submit the same lesson or assignment for a retake entry that was submitted originally; however, the analysis must be completely new and the student work samples and videotapes must be from the current calendar school year. Retake performances are compared against their original submissions. If the analysis and student work samples/videotapes are the same, the retake performance will be disqualified.
We offer a wide variety that can be viewed under the program descriptions link of the home page.
Yes, see program description link on home page.
Our programs are designed with all teachers and students in mind, and can be customized to fit the
specific needs of particular audiences. This customization is offered as part of the technical assistance that is provided by the regional director.
The overarching purpose of our SALT Program is to help students develop their academic language and effectively access and use their textbooks. From this perspective it is our desire that this will improve their performance on the CAHSEE test.
No, we offer a comprehensive program titled: Secondary Academic Language Tools (SALT) that is designed for all content-area teachers (math, science, history, etc.), including English teachers. A detailed description can be found under the program link on the home page.
Each of our regional directors offers these services and is capable of working with your staff to match your needs to the professional development we provide.
We understand the challenges associated with providing comprehensive and sustained professional development with limited funds and have created a few models that might address your needs. One approach is to begin on a small scale by offering professional development to small leadership cohorts in a school or district. Once it is determined that these leaders have sufficient experience, they can then be integrated into the CRLP leadership cadre and begin to provide professional development to their colleagues – all the while continuing to be supported by the regional CRLP leadership.
All of our programs include a PLC component that includes tools and protocols to support team building, data analysis, and strategic instructional decision making.
The elementary school institutes generally enroll 4th and 5th grade teachers. While all teachers are welcome, it is the 4th and 5th grade teachers that bear the burden of teaching science in preparation for the CST at 5th grade in science.
The content focus varies by site. The CA science standards exist for the physical, biological, earth, and space science
Every site will select the grade level and science field that will be developed in the content institute. Information about the content institute will be available on the webpage of the various CSP sites.
Generally secondary institutes are designed for both middle and high school science teachers. The content is developed for an in-depth understanding of a set of topics in a specific field of science.
The summer content institutes are significantly different from short college science courses. The summer content institute develops an in-depth understanding of a set topics in a science as well as brings to bear the signature pedagogies of the discipline. Woven and integrated into the teaching of these institutes are language and discourse development strategies.
The summer content institutes are between 80 to 120 hours. Very frequently, there are academic year follow-up sessions that are held on Saturdays. Many of the sites provide stipends for participants. Some of the sites do have a charge for participation, however, the cost is usually paid by the school or district.