The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

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  • Kimberly Bellamy

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December 30, 2009

NUMBER ONE

Edgecombe adds to the state's lead in Board Certification

KIMBERLY BELLAMY

Edgecombe County Public Schools has three more teachers to add to the state’s leading number in National Board certified teachers in the nation.

North Carolina makes up 19 percent of the country’s teachers that have been certified by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) with 15,695 educators earning the credential in the state.

The state has outdone others in the amount of teachers that earned certification this year. Of the 8,874 educators that were certified across the nation this year, North Carolina employs 1,509 of them.

Edgecombe County’s school district is no exception with 68 board certified teachers. Carver Elementary’s Tracy Bridges and Kelly Grubbs, and SouthWest Edgecombe’s David Madigan are the newest educators to complete the process.

One of the main contributors to the state leading the pack in certified teachers is the incentives that are rewarded including a $2,500 assessment fee, three paid release days to develop their portfolios, a 12 percent salary supplement to their regular salary that will be applied during the 10-years spanning the certification, and 15 continuing education units.

“When teachers see that leading policy makers are willing to make an investment in them, it gives them a message that they’re important,” said James Minichello, NBPTS spokesman.

Each of Edgecombe’s latest certified teachers echoed one another in the impact its made on their career.

"The process has opened new delivery options, project ideas, assessment strategies and reflection practicies that I use on a daily basis when planning for my classes," Madigan said.

"The National Board process had me to provide more meaningful services to my students by evaluating the needs of my students,” Bridges said.

“By going through the process I have learned a lot about my school and myself as an educator and the pay raise is nice.”

Minichello said that most teachers who have completed the process share the same feeling about how it was beneficial to them.

“An overwhelming majority of teachers that go through the process tell us it’s the best professional development they’ve had,” he said.

While certification may help educators in the long run, obtaining it isn’t an easy task.

“Less than half that go through the process are successful,” Minichello said.

Both Madigan and Bridges cited time restraints as big challenges while completing the process. Grubbs wasn’t available for comment at the time of publication.

The process requires student work samples, teaching portfolios, videotapes, an analysis of the teacher’s effectiveness of student learning and classroom teaching, and assessment on their subject matter.

National Board Certification began in 1994, and since that time the state has led the pack in the number of certified teachers for the last 14 years.

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