National Board Certification Available for Teachers of World Languages Other than English

Introduction (published in 2002 Fall ATJ newsletter)

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, founded in 1987, is setting standards for accomplished teachers and creating 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. Recently, the National Board approved standards for teachers of World Languages Other than English, 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.

Teachers who have been through the rigorous process of National Board Certification say that the process allows them to engage in analytic study of their classroom practice as teachers. For some teachers, the intrinsic rewards of this opportunity are an end in itself. Others are recognized with financial incentives that substantially enhance their salaries. National Board Certification can open the doors to many teacher leadership opportunities - speaking at professional conferences or working at special positions in their districts - while allowing these teachers to continue to do what they do best: teach.

National Board Certification is a performance-based assessment, where teachers demonstrate how they meet National Board Standards for their teaching field through a portfolio of their work. The portfolio consists of four separate entries, each of which calls for standards-based evidence of different elements of their teaching practices. Three of the entries ask candidates for National Board Certification to showcase specific aspects of their classroom instruction. Teachers submit videotapes, student work samples, and other materials from their classroom teaching and provide a detailed commentary that gives context for the evidence they submit. The fourth entry is a documentation of accomplishments, in which candidates describe how their work with families, the community, and other professionals have impacted their student's learning.

The assessment center, a second portion of the certification process, consists of six thirty-minute exercises and assesses selected content knowledge. Assessment center exercises involve content recognized by foreign language organizations to be essential proficiencies for all educators in world language instruction: speaking, listening, reading, writing, instructional theory, and linguistics.

To demonstrate oral proficiency, teachers will respond on tape in the target language to scenarios presented in English, providing accurate and full responses about contextualized social, practical, professional, and abstract topics. This exercise is scheduled separately from the other five exercises and is completed in the presence of a test administrator, who does the recording. For the remaining five exercises, candidates go to Testing Centers where prompts are delivered by computer. Candidates are given up to 30 minutes per exercise to hand write or type constructed responses to exercises that require them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills relating to interpretation of spoken language, written language, communication in writing, language acquisition theory, and knowledge of how languages work.

Teachers are eligible to enter the National Board Certification process if they hold a baccalaureate degree, have taught for a minimum of three years, and have held a valid state teaching license (if required) during those three years. The National Board Certification process is an opportunity for teachers to reflect upon their practice, analyze student work and describe their deliberate and intentional instructional decisions based upon their understanding of student learning. The portfolio assessment allows educators to showcase how they meet National Board Standards in visible and multifaceted ways. Teachers actively practicing in the field score all assessments.

Applications for National Board Assessment are available online and by mail. Fee support is available to help defray the $2300 application cost. For more information about the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, fee support, or for an application contact: 1-800-22TEACH. http://www.nbpts.org/.

NBPTS' official web site is at:
http://www.nbpts.org/

Standards: Early and Middle Childhood/World Languages Other than English
http://www.nbpts.org/standards/cert_overview/ng_ov_emc_wloe.html

Standards: Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood/World Languages Other than English
http://www.nbpts.org/standards/cert_overview/ng_ov_eaya_wloe.html

Standards (184k PDF document, 82 pages)
http://www.nbpts.org/pdf/ecya_wloe.pdf

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