Teacher certification surges

Nothing drives teacher performance like the success of students.

That and the possibility of a $10,000 salary increase.

After the Legislature approved $5,000 per year stipends for teachers who receive national board certification this year, the state received double the amount of applications.

Teachers who receive the professional certification and choose to teach in low-income schools – those labeled Title I by the federal government – are also eligible for an additional $5,000 per year in state money.

Last year, the financial incentive was $3,500 per year, no matter where you worked.

“It’s waving the carrot in front of the horse,” said Emily Torres, an English teacher at Spokane’s Ferris High School, who is seeking the certification.

If she succeeds, Torres will join the 38 Spokane Public Schools teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

There are slightly more than 1,300 teachers in Washington who have achieved the status, among more than 55,000 nationwide.

Teachers pay $2,500 to go through a rigorous yearlong evaluation of their skills, which are measured against national standards for teaching.

In Washington, scholarships of $1,250 are available to candidates. By the scholarship deadline on May 15, more than 1,200 teachers had applied.

Typically, about 500 make an attempt each year, state officials said.

About half of the teachers who make the attempt each year succeed, said Terese Emry, coordinator of the national board certification program for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Teachers seeking the certification submit four portfolios, including the examination of student work and video recordings from the classroom.

“It’s not about standing up there teaching … you have to validate how your students are learning,” said Elizabeth Rose, a national board certified teacher at University High School. She is one of 10 teachers with the certification in the Central Valley School District, and one of 81 teachers nationwide who were first given the certification in 1994.

Because the certification is good only for 10 years, Rose had to go through the process again.

“It literally is hundreds and hundreds of hours of thoughtful comparison of what you do each day against a set of national standards,” she said. “It’s like a WASL for teachers.”

Rose has also assisted candidates with the process in recent years through a partnership between the state and local colleges and universities. Candidates receiving a state scholarship pay a fee and receive help from national board teachers who have gone through the certification.

Rose said she wasn’t surprised to learn that more teachers were interested after the Legislature approved the incentives.

“For a teacher, $10,000 is like you just won the lottery,” she said. “But you have to keep in mind, too, that there’s a pretty high cost to go through the process; you are going to spend money.”

It’s not easy, and there’s no guarantee.

“Teachers will spend between 200 and 400 hours examining what they do,” Emry said. “It really helps a teacher think about his or her practice deeply.”

For some teachers, it’s also a way to receive professional certification from the state, required after five years of teaching.

A teacher could earn a master’s degree, or go through a process of professional certification with the state, or opt for the more challenging and costly national board certification.

A teacher with a master’s degree earns more on the state salary schedule than a teacher with a bachelor’s degree.

Because Torres already had her master’s degree, she opted for the more challenging national board certification, she said.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done my life,” Torres said.