National Board Certification¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 5 claims (4 for, 1 mixed) · 4 studies (3 associational, 1 review),q2–q3· 0 of 4 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study
Description¶
A rigorous professional certification programme run by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in which teachers demonstrate advanced practice through a portfolio and assessment-centre examinations.
Components¶
- National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process: NBPTS was "established to elevate the teaching profession by providing an advanced, rigorous level of certifica- tion," beginning in 1995. Certification involves an extensive portfolio with unedited classroom videotapes, analysis of student work, and evidence of work with families and colleagues, plus six assessment-center examinations scored by trained teachers; Educational Testing Service administers the assessments. The report evaluates Chicago NBCTs and candidates on professional development, commitment, leadership roles, and principal ratings. (Penny Bender Sebring et al. (2004))
- Portfolio entries with written commentary for assessing teaching practice: The digest describes a uniform assessment structure in which "a school-site portfolio that contained six entries - four classroom-based entries and two Documented Accomplishments Entries" and notes that "All six entries in the portfolio centered on a Written Commentary in which the teachers would describe, analyze and reflect on how their teaching practice, as reflected in the evidence they presented, met" the standards. In this pattern, candidates assemble authentic evidence of practice (videotaped classroom interactions, student work samples, documentation of work with professional communities and families) and accompany each entry with analytic written commentary connecting the evidence t (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' National Teacher Certification et al. (2000))
Claims¶
- Elementary schools with clusters of board-certified teachers and candidates showed higher teacher influence, innovation, and slightly higher collective responsibility [+W]
- Board-certified teachers were twice as likely as other teachers to hold school leadership roles, and about two-thirds led professional development [+W]
- Principals rated board-certified teachers higher than other experienced teachers on seven competence areas, most often 'extraordinary' [+W]
- An ERIC digest reports that a 2000 validity study gave strong initial evidence that National Board certification identifies teachers who are more expert and whose students learn more deeply [+W]
- Teachers with National Board Certification or advanced degrees differ from other teachers only on observation scores, not value added [~W]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- Penny Bender Sebring, Susan Sporte, Stephen Ponisciak, Elaine Allensworth. (2004). Principal and Teacher Leadership in Chicago: Early Evidence on Two Initiatives. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/principal-and-teacher-leadership-chicago-early-evidence-two-initiatives
- National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' National Teacher Certification and a Performance-Based Assessment System. (2000). ERIC Digest. https://eric.ed.gov/
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
national-board-certification |
title |
National Board Certification |
description |
A rigorous professional certification programme run by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in which teachers demonstrate advanced practice through a portfolio and assessment-centre examinations. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
design/portfolio-with-written-commentary-assessment, element/nbpts-national-board-certification-process |
product_kind |
programme |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — penny-bender-sebring-2004, national-board-for-professional-teaching-standards-national-teacher-certification-and-a-performance-based-assessment-system-2000 |
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