By Joanne M. Haas

Doors that Matt Friedl didn’t know existed blew open for the Hudson High School social studies teacher after he earned his National Board Certification in 2000. The process re-energized him after he nearly abandoned his profession due to teacher-bashing.

Connie Wolf returned to teaching after 20 years in retail and earned her National Board Certification in 2001. Not only has she worked to make changes in student-parent conferences at her Menomonee Falls district, she also walked through a door to teach graduate college courses.

Catherine Anderson, a 24-year science teacher now with the Eau Claire district, earned her National Board Certification in 1999 when very few understood the immense challenge it posed and the seemingly unlimited benefits it offered. The process ignited a new way of thinking about her classroom instruction methods and opened doors for her to share her expertise with state and national groups. In 2002-03, she was chair of the National Board Early Adolescent Standards Review Committee which crafted the early adolescent science standards. She’s also earned honors and awards including the State Middle School Teacher of the Year and a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher.

These three classroom standouts are among 328 Wisconsin teachers who have earned National Board Certification so far, including 62 whose names were just announced in late November. The number of Wisconsin teachers pursuing certification is growing rapidly, thanks in large part to the efforts of teacher leaders such as Friedl, Wolf and Anderson, as well as WEAC and NEA programs that encourage and support certification.

Since 1999, when Wisconsin had only two National Board-certified teachers, interest and participation have grown tremendously, said Ron Jetty, a WEAC teaching and learning consultant who coordinates the union’s efforts to support teachers seeking national certification.

Many reasons to pursue certification
Every teacher who undertakes what can be a three-year process to earn National Board Certification does it for different reasons, according to those involved in the process. The main reason is to improve themselves as teachers, which benefits students. Achieving certification also can mean a jump in pay in some districts, as well as a guaranteed state stipend for each of the years of the life of the certification.

But earning National Board Certification is difficult and challenging and is not for everyone.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done professionally, and the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” Wolf said. “It totally changed the way I think about student learning, teaching, communications with parents and collaboration with colleagues. That was huge!”

Even though each has completed the process and earned the 10-year certification, which can be renewed, Anderson stressed professional growth never really stops.

“Every day I work harder and harder because I am not satisfied to coast to be just as I was. You can’t just stop. It is in your blood to do it better. It just challenges you.”

Friedl echoed Anderson’s assessment and said: “Not only does it reaffirm that you should be doing what you’re doing, it opened up so many doors for me – doors of my choosing.”

Friedl said he learned the process to earn National Board Certification is all about working with others to develop professionally. “It is teachers helping teachers.”

Wisconsin National Board Network
And that is exactly what these three teachers, along with fellow National Board Certified Teacher Lynda Sullivan of Wisconsin Rapids, have in mind. Together they serve as WEAC’s Core Team within the Wisconsin National Board Network to help other teachers maneuver the road to becoming nationally certified.

Each is assigned a specific quadrant or region of Wisconsin. Cathy Anderson has the northwest; Matt Friedl has the southwest; Lynda Sullivan has the northeast; and Connie Wolf has the southeast. More information about how to contact these coordinators – and resources and schedules for upcoming National Board workshops – can be found on the Web site at www2.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/wnbn.

The four WEAC members, who were recruited by WEAC’s Jetty, attended the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Conference last summer, and completed an updated training on the National Board during WEAC’s Summer Academy in preparation for their participation as key resources for teachers.

WEAC’s efforts in helping its members achieve national certification were recognized in November by the National Staff Association for the Improvement of Instruction. It granted WEAC a first-place award in the category of Comprehensive Training Program, citing its National Board Certification support grants. The grants are used to train already-certified teachers – including the four members of WEAC’s Core Team – to help other members achieve certification.

What is national certification?
National Board Certification is a voluntary assessment created and handled by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Just as Friedl said, it is teachers working to strengthen the teaching profession and thereby improving student learning. Teachers are involved in every aspect of the operation, Jetty said.

There are 24 categories of certification available for various grade levels and subject areas.

An online application is required before a teacher is allowed to enter the National Board process. There also are some basic requirements. An applicant must have a bachelor’s degree and three years of teaching experience with a valid teaching license.

More information regarding these points also can be found on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Web site at www.nbpts.org and on OnWEAC at www.weac.org/Resource/NBPTS.htm.

‘You’re bound to get better’
“It really causes somebody to look deeply at their practice,” Jetty said of the process. “Any time you really think about what you’re doing and set out a plan for improvement, you’re bound to get better.”

Achieving national certification is not an easy task.

“Teachers are incredibly overworked,” Jetty said. “But when they look at this process, they are in the position of forcing themselves to reflect. And when they do that, they find, by and large, that very good things happen to them in terms of improving themselves as professionals.”

While the pressures on teachers have intensified in recent years thanks in part to the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law, Jetty said those who complete the National Board process emerge “better equipped to handle the pressures that come with the era of testing and accountability.”

“This is something they are doing for themselves,” Jetty said. “It isn’t a cookie cutter approach to improvement. Everybody has different skill sets and everybody has different strengths.”

It costs $2,300 to pursue certification. However, teachers can get a federal subsidy administered by the state Department of Public Instruction which, Jetty said, cuts the cost in half. Upon certification, teachers may apply to the state to be reimbursed for their expenses up to $2,000. For each of the remaining nine years of the certification, the state pays $2,500. Teachers who earn national certification are looking at a potential $24,500 salary bump when considering that state stipend. However, it varies.

For example, Jetty said, Bayfield moves teachers with national certification to the furthest lane of the salary schedule.

In addition, National Board Certification is one route for teachers to achieve a master educator license – the top tier of the three-level state teacher licensing law known as PI 34.

Not everybody passes on the first try. Nationally, fewer than 50% achieve certification on the first attempt. But people can try and try again during that three-year process, and retakes have a “high degree of success,” Jetty said.

‘Worth it to continue’
In spite of the literally countless hours and labor, Friedl, like a lot of first-timers, failed in his first attempt to get the national certification and became an “advanced candidate.”

“I felt the process was worthy enough to continue with it,” he said.

Friedl, who gained a lot from the first try, gained even more through the do-over of the failed sections because he collaborated with colleagues.

“I had to find some people who could help me understand it more,” he said. (The person who helped Friedl also went on to earn her National Board Certification.)

Friedl credited support from his UniServ, the West Central Education Association, and most notably Baldwin teacher and NEA Director Paul Hambleton, whom he called his “mentor” for helping him find his place.

Friedl expects the National Board process to gain popularity among the veteran teachers looking for ways to grow beyond earning the six college credits for relicensure. “National certification has the flexibility and the opportunity to move your professional development into another avenue,” he said.

“It’s been an incredible experience. I was sick of the teacher-bashing and now I’m working to stop the teacher-bashing.”

‘Just happenstance’
Connie Wolf earned her National Board Certification in 2001 as a middle childhood generalist, which covers ages 7 to 12. Wolf and a colleague decided to go for it.

“It was just a happenstance. I knew nothing about the process and she didn’t either – and we were both about the same age,” Wolf said. “Our lives were looking pretty good – no new babies and we were looking for new challenges, and our principal had just heard about it and suggested we go to the awareness seminar. We went and we were hooked.”

From that November through March, they completed their entries. “We really hustled through this with not too much support,” Wolf said. Her husband did the cooking and her mother-in-law also stepped in to assist while Wolf spent her time outside of the classroom writing – all the time learning more and more about her teaching methods.

“I tried to solve my problems myself,” she said of her old ways. “I would make snap decisions. Now I’ve learned how to depend upon the perspective and opinion of others.”

Earning her National Board Certification also helped her find ways to improve one area she felt needed help – conferences with parents. The process led her to a seminar on student-led conferences. So convinced this was a meaningful way to handle conferences, she led an effort to get the student-led practice in play among some teachers in her Menomonee Falls district.

Wolf said the National Board process highlighted the value of collaboration and led her to service on committees, including serving as president of the Wisconsin National Board Network.

“I have met so many great, accomplished teachers,” Wolf said of her return to teaching and earning her national certification. “The impact I saw on my teaching made me rethink how I do things. It made me more efficient in the classroom.”

And it encouraged Wolf to get her master’s degree after achieving her national certification. On top of that, she just completed teaching three graduate-level college courses where she worked with veteran teachers. “I leaped into the college world and found it pretty good.”

She also said earning national certification is an obligation a teacher places upon herself or himself to do the best possible job. “It isn’t a process to be taken lightly. It is a huge undertaking. We don’t want to honey-coat it.”

Her district also has put into contract language an additional stipend for teachers who earn national certification. The contract also provides teachers working on a National Board Certification application three professional days to write the portfolio.

‘Helps keep the best and brightest’
One of the pioneers who helped inspire more and more Wisconsin teachers to earn National Board Certification, Catherine Anderson said completing the process in 1999 forever changed the way she thinks about teaching and how she helps her students achieve.

But Anderson doesn’t stop with the students in her classroom.

“It has also given me an extra voice in my district to be on committees and advocate for kids,” she said.

Completing the National Board process also boosted her confidence. She said she used to go to a meeting, have an idea but possibly not speak up so readily. “What if people think I’m not right,” she said of her previous attitude. “Now I know a lot about research and know that I have a message to share and feel more confident about sharing those things.”

Anderson also is confident the National Board process is a surefire way to keep qualified teachers in touch with students.

“A person can stay in the classroom and still feel fulfilled,” she said of the benefits of becoming National Board certified. “It can rejuvenate you as well.”

“Any time you talk with the National Board teachers, they are passionate about what they do,” she said. “It is kind of infectious. We are just always chattering about something.

“This is a way to celebrate what we do and be proud of the accomplishments.”

Resource page on National Board Certification

Posted November 30, 2005