Professional Development SIG: Standards for Teachers and Teacher Educators: NBPTS
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Professional Development SIG: Standards for Teachers and Teacher Educators: NBPTS |
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS; web site http://www.nbpts.org), founded in 1987, set standards for accomplished teachers and created a voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet these standards. The standards, representing a consensus of teachers, teacher educators, and professional organizations in a given teaching field, articulate the critical skills and knowledge that distinguish effective teaching in their field. The National Board approved standards for teachers of World Languages Other than English (WLOE), paving the way for teachers in this field to engage in a rigorous professional development process leading to a National Board Certificate. In April 2002, National Board Certification became available for teachers of Latin and Japanese, in addition to Spanish, French, and German.
Only one Japanese teacher signed up for certification for the first year. Due to this low demand, NBPTS was considering to shelf or retire the Japanese certification completely. On behalf of our field, we sent NBPTS a letter signed by Laurel Rodd, Pat Wetzel, Motoko Tabuse, Susan Schmidt, and Y. - H. Tohsaku, requesting that the Japanese certification be continued. The NBPTS board met late February and decided to offer, on a staggered schedule, certificates with low candidate demand. Depending upon candidate demand, certain certificates will be available on either a two- or three-year cycle.
NBPTS Board Adopts New Resolutions at February Board Meeting: Low Demand Certificates are Among Items Addressed http://www.nbpts.org/news/article.cfm?id=265
Despite the decision to offer the certification in the staggered schedule, NBPTS made an exception for Japanese certificate by starting the process for the 2003-2004 cycle. Those who are interested in the World Languages Other than English for Early Adolecense through Young Adulthood: ages 11-18+ (EAYA/WLOE) certificates are encouraged to: 1) consider becoming an assessor in the summer 2003 (see the accompanying article in this newsletter) and, 2) start preparing portfolio even before applying for the certification process. All necessary information including application procedures, portfolio entry samples, and so forth are available on the NBPTS site and you can start preparing entries now. Since it takes between 200 to 400 hours to complete a portfolio, teachers should apply early, even before October.
There are a number of Scholarships and Rewards offered at state, district and private levels. Various states and local school districts have recognized the value of National Board Certification by offering salary increases, bonuses, or other incentives. Also special loans are available for National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) members. Please refer to Scholarships and Rewards section of NBPTS web site at: http://www.nbpts.org/candidates/guide/3_schlsp.html
For complete information about the NBPTS certification, please visit their web site at http://www.nbpts.org or call at 1-800-22TEACH.
ATJ Professional SIG is planning to offer support for developing a portfolio and preparing for test-center exercises through its web site (http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/SIG/prodev/index.html), etc. If you have any questions about the NBPTS Japanese certification, please write to Y.-H. Tohsaku at ytohsaku@ucsd.edu.
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