Barnett Berry of “Building the Teaching Profession” says although the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ teacher certification is not a sure-fire way to ensure student achievement, many ideas advocated by the teacher network ring true.
One message in particular, Berry says, is of rethinking education in light of the “technologically-infused, knowledge-intensive global economy,” adding that “new demands are placed on the 21st century worker and citizen and the schools that prepare them.”
In addition, Berry suggests teachers need to re-assess students based on a new, more appropriate skill set as encouraged by the NBPTS.
One NBPTS certified teacher agrees:
I had to refocus not on what I wanted the students to learn, but rather what the students needed to know […] I also noticed that while my lessons were well-planned, my assessments were not. I lacked authentic student self-assessment and consistent evaluation measures.
The merit of board certification for teachers fuels a hot debate. Let’s, for a moment, look beyond this debate and turn our attention toward the philosophies championed by this certification board. Maybe that should be the real focus?