Leading the nation

Florida finally is first in something education related.

This year, it has the most teachers newly certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The 1,675 teachers who successfully completed the rigorous program bring Florida's total to 10,875, second only to North Carolina.

Florida also had 11 of the nation's top 20 districts when it comes to new National Board certified teachers. They include Hillsborough, sixth with 131, and Pinellas, thirteenth with 65. Pasco wasn't far behind, adding 35 teachers to its group.

Broward has more National Board certified teachers, 1,283, than any other district in the country.

"The basis of a quality education begins with the teacher in the classroom," Gov. Charlie Crist said in a news release. "As we grow the number of National Board Certified Teachers, more students will have access to quality teaching and learning."

There's still some dispute over whether teachers who have this certification get any better results from their students than those who don't. But there's no real dispute as to why they seek it - a combination of self-improvement and a state-offered bonus.

To read the press release, click here. Lists of teachers should be available later today.

UPDATE: To see the list of Hillsborough teachers, click here. To see the list of Pasco teachers, click here.

Comments

I have a 14 yo daughter who attends a public school. She used to go to parochial school. I was nervous to put her into the great middle school that she now attends. Her horizons have been expanded and I believe she has grown as a person and as a student. I sometimes despair of people who simply want to criticize public servants who are at heart working their best to educate our children.

[a teacher]

Many excellent and mediocre teachers choose to spend there time satisfying the board requirements. Many excellent and mediocre teachers choose not to. Some of our finest teachers were not granted admission to this society until their second or third try. Some of our more verbose were granted admission on the first try.
It sounds like a pyramid scheme to me. The "annointed" will all be scrambling to mentor the "unannointed" to attain their 90 hours for pay. I think I'll pass and use the additional time to enhance my performance for students. I am not impressed by the cookie cutter criteria necessary to impress "the board".

[Evelyn]

Angela at 3:19

Do you understand the difference between a certified teacher and a National Board certified teacher? Not to mention all of the people who are now in front of classrooms with only a Bachelor's degree and a temporary certification. And why would you brag about your son using a cell phone in class to post something on youtube??

[Angela Newhart]

"Concerned About Education"
Those same certified teacher's wrote my son up for whistling in class. Then put the class in mute as she began to erase the board and set it up for the next day saying that it was Friday, pay day and that she didn't have to put up with it. I know this because he put it on youtube. He maintains a 3.85 that could even be higher if he studied.
Way to go test takers!

[Jessee]

"Since when are test scores the end all and be all of assessing student achievement?"
EXACTLY!
Parents have a job as well, we all know they are not always interested in that job. Being NBCT is a bunch of crap! Yes some are great teachers, not all. TRUST!They continue to teach just as they have learned, HOW TO PASS A TEST! When it comes to true life skills and reality, please! Our future generation as we see everyday in the paper is one scary future.

[ImaTeacher]

National Board Certification was the best professional development I did. The process and examination are both challenging.

One study by a PhD student at UCF showed that NBC actually increases teacher retention and teachers who earn NBC are more likely to remain in the classroom.

Having a satisfied, qualified, and experienced teacher in the classroom is important. I want my kids' teachers to be happy and effective.

Finally, not all good teachers pursue NBC. Some good teachers don't do the program. Most teachers who earn NBC are outstanding teachers. Not all teachers could earn NBC.

Terminator writes: "If so, why is the state pouring so much money into a program with no linkage between bonus pay and increased student test scores?"

Do you even know how much money is being poured into this? Shouldn't teachers be rewarded for their accomplishments? Since when are test scores the end all and be all of assessing student achievement? Though I'm sure if you want to conduct the research you will find that there is indeed a connection...exceptional teachers usually produce exceptional results...

[terminator]

11:56
I don't really know about the evolution of NBCT in Florida but I suspect FEA endorsed it somewhere along the way.
I suspect it had more to do with Betty Castrator (former Ed Commish and head of NBCT) selling it to state officials.
I'm not trying to belittle it, just asking if anyone has any credible research studies to link NBCT with increases in FCAT scores.
Jeffrey:
maybe this could be a good story.
Would love to hear what Jeanine Blomberg, Eric Smith and the FBOE muckymucks in Tally have to say.
I suspect there is nothing imperical to link the two qualitatively.
If so, why is the state pouring so much money into a program with no linkage between bonus pay and increased student test scores?

[Anne Weller]

It takes hundreds of hours to complete the process to be a National Board Certified teacher. Lessons must be well planned, analyzed and reanalyzed to detect what went right and what needs improvement. To complete the process successfully you have to study national standards in reading, writing, social studies, science and math. You have to implement plans that engage your students so you will have something to analyze. You have to videotape lessons and analyze how students are being engaged and what you can do to engage them more fully.
To say that this is a dog and pony show is a myth, walk in the shoes of any certified teacher and you will know it is not a walk in the park. It is a serious commitment to learning a new way of looking at your own style of teaching and making improvements. In my experience I have found it to be more stressful and challenging than the Masters Program I completed at USF. At least with your Masters program you can consult with your professor to see if you are on the right track. With National Boards you have to find your own way in many respects which demands more time reading about best practices in education. Please don't belittle a process like this until you have walked it yourself. Those I know that have recieved this certification are exemplary teachers to begin with and they deserve all the accolades and $$ that accompany it.

[Concerned about Education]

Everyone's a critic, but so few are experts! Perhaps your comments would make more sense if you actually knew what you were talking about. Board certified teachers are some of the most dedicated and dynamic teachers around, and most went through the exhausting and extremely self-reflective process of getting certified to become even better teachers than they were to begin with. Jenny--if you are so concerned about the "teaching kids to pass a test" that is certainly happening in these sad days of high stakes testing and accountability, then write to your state and federal politicians, and then vote for people who will hopefully lead American public education towards more authetic learning for our children. Then, write to all of the sad uninvolved parents that expect the world to teach their children and do not even help their children study for vocabulary tests or be bothered to discipline their often lazy and apathetic children. Then, if you're a Hillsborough resident, write to the school board and ask them to give their secondary teachers more than 50 minutes to plan for 6 classes of 150 students and also manage to find time to grade the 750-1000 pieces of paper that they will receive on a weekly basis. If you still see no results, then offer to volunteer your time, because this is so important to you, to help a teacher grade some of those papers. And better yet, if getting a degree is so incredibly easy, then you go ahead and get one and you can become a teacher with all it's wonderful benefits--no pay over the summer, $400-600 a month for insurance on family members, no pay for the holiday weeks off (only for the individual holidays i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day--but school boards are certainly happy to dock teacher's regular paychecks to try to stretch out their money and give them some resemblence of a paycheck during those off times--though for some reason Hillsborough teachers will still be going three weeks between paychecks during the winter holidays.) And if your oh-so-easy-to-get bachelor's degree isn't enough, than you can go ahead and get your master's and acrue more student loans, that you won't be able to afford to pay back, because you think that no real learning goes on in colleges and students in colleges are just mindless zombies trained in how to sit still and pass a test (Though, I don't know how some people get through those 5 hour essay comprehensive exams or write 100+ page theses without using their higher order thinking skills--but according to you that is all ). So why don't you go out and make that difference. Get your hands a little dirty, learn something about what it takes to teach a classroom of children in today's world, actually speak to some board certified teachers--I have and I've learned quite a bit from them. While you're at it, maybe instead of blaming teachers for your children's lack of learning or acheivement, you can spend your time teaching today's kids (yours as well as others) to value education and to take some personal responsibility for their own learning. Not every child is a victim of the school system, many are just victims of bad parenting and bad legislation. Many of the board certified teachers that I know spend 2 or 3 extra hours per day (and on weekends) trying to bridge the gaps that exist between the curriculum, the parenting, and the NCLB accountabiliy craze. These are teachers that deserve far more that the 6,000 (after taxes) that they receive for being National Board Certfied (if you do the math kindly this averages approximately $11 per every extra hour of work--if they're lucky (180 school days x 3 hourse/$6000) Oh, and let's not forget to mention the 90 hours that they are required to spend mentoring other teachers. Good luck with all that writing...

Many times teachers who become a NBCT are doing it as a stepping stone to administration. It is not a step in improving their skills as a teacher. I can honestly say that I am in the process of it for the extra $8,000 a year. I know it sounds petty, but that is a significant chunk of change in relation to a teachers salary. It is lots of work to become a NBCT if you do it the right way, as I am.

Terminator,

The Excellent Teacher Program was a darling of the FEA in Florida. As I understand it, the NBPTS is affiliated with the NEA in some way. If you don't think its a good program, check with your bosses about why they got it going in Florida.

[Jenny Bucholz]

Total B.S. dog-and-pony show? Writing about who you are, etc...etc...That could be true. But there are general knowledge, math, literature multiple choice questions as well from what I know. B.S. For Sure! Where are the the real teachers? What about them? Not the one's that can pass a test. Passing a test to me means simply that. My kids graduated from Pinellas last year. They had teachers that were ok in my book, but I did oh so much more at home. These days teachers are teaching kids to pass a test, just as they did for 4+ years. Just as they studied in college. They are on the bottom of the salary pay in our state and have great time off (holiday's and all) big deal! They are certified to not get paid as a sub.

[Jackie]

I know several teachers who have LIED to get through the certification process. Most of the ones I know who have completed it honestly have not passed. It is a total B.S. dog-and-pony show. You have to write all this garbage about how great you are and all the things you do; you submit this *cough* "evidence" that is not verified in any way. The more impossible you seem, the better you do. And, of course, the only way to be impossibly good is to lie.

The whole thing is a sham and it is a travesty that our state provides millions of dollars to fund this process.

[Jan Schlosser]

Thank you Erika. My son's teacher is certified (displays in her classroom. don't know why). Certification seems like a title to me. A test you take and pass. You study and go to college, pass a test. Sounds alot like FCAT to me. You study, learn, pass and there it is. You have stepped on that F"CAT" and moved on. But once again, I wonder how much common since do these teachers have, being certified and all. I am not impressed, but grew up in the public school system. I am not knocking it, to each his own. But c'mon......My son's class looks like a 4th grade romper room with no order. Piles of crap stashed here and there and always set up in a small group setting. I did a visit and saw a group coloring print outs from the internet of disney characters. That's a choice home activity in my home. My son was sitting there talking with his reading buddies vs. reading the chapter book "Holes" they were asked to. But this is a certified teacher that was doing a bulletin board with her back turned. I guess the behaviors were ok but my God, they just ought to be! They were doing absolutely nothing in this certified teachers classroom in the middle of the day. BTW, the bulletin board did look wonderful though. ALl the little girls were cutting, stapling and oh, this is called assisting. The teacher told me they were in a Kagan mind set.
Pray for certified teachers Florida

[Erika Swoope]

This is simply wonderful, I guess. Realistically, how many of these talented/gifted/special teachers are certified in behavior management?

[Erika Swoope]

This is simply wonderful, I guess. Realistically, how many of these talented/gifted/special teachers are certified in behavior management?

[terminator]

can anyone provide research studies that imperically prove NBCT teachers provide better instruction or improve student test scores?
just asking.
it seems as if many (mostly the folks from NBCT) think this is some sort of magic bullet and if one if NBCT than that makes them some sort of super-teacher.
since the state spends hundreds of millions per year for bonuses was wondering if DOE has done any studies linking NBCT to student performance (a la FCAT)
How bout SAT, ACT, AP?
anyone know Bueller? anyone?