The Carnegie task force envisioned that the board’s influence would reach beyond any impact that individual board-certified teachers might have on their students. The task force hoped that the board’s standards would be widely influential and the demand for board-certified teachers would lead to improvements in working conditions for all teachers. Board-certified teachers would influence the way their colleagues taught, schools and districts would use the board standards as a guide and work to provide teaching environments conducive to the board’s approach, and teacher preparation and professional development would spread the influence of the board’s standards to future generations of teachers. Little research is available on these kinds of spillover effects. Two studies examined the impact of board certification on teachers’ roles in their schools, focusing on the six states with the largest populations of board-certified teachers.

The results suggest that school systems are not making the best uses of their board-certified teachers and that board-certified teachers often work in unsupportive environments. The studies reveal instances of administrators who discourage board-certified teachers from assuming responsibilities outside the classroom and who worry about showing favoritism toward board-certified teachers. In some cases, administrators down play the significance of the credential, and some board-certified teachers conceal their credential so as not to seem to be showing off. Despite these negative findings, the studies described a few school systems in which board-certified teachers are rewarded, used effectively, and offered new opportunities. In these instances, board-certified teachers are used as mentors, team leaders, and organizers of professional development activities; board certification is viewed as part of a broader commitment to improving professional development and meeting higher standards for teachers.

With regard to influences on teacher preparation, the National Coun” al for Accreditation of Teacher Education has aligned its accreditation standards for teacher education programs with the NBPTS standards. The curriculum standards for programs that prepare beginning teachers offered by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium are also aligned. These efforts lay the groundwork for the NBPTS standards to impact teacher preparation, but there is no research to document the extent of the board’s influence on the content of teacher preparation programs or the standards of individual programs. From the small research base, we found little evidence that the national board is having the intended spillover effects, but we highlight the fact that much of the needed research has not been conducted. We think that board-certified teachers are unlikely to have a significant impact without broader endorsements by states, districts, and schools of the NBPTS goals for improving professional development, setting high standards for teach. ers, and actively utilizing the board-certified teachers in leadership roles.

Furthermore, we think that the certification program is unlikely to have broad systemic effects on the field of teaching unless greater numbers of teachers become board certified and the Carnegie task force’s other recommendations for creating a more effective environment for teaching and learning in schools, increasing the supply of high-quality entrants into the field, and improving career opportunities for teachers are implemented. However, our review of the evidence led us to conclude that there is not yet sufficient research to evaluate the extent to which the NBPTS is having systemic impacts on the teaching field and the education system. Learning things is not limited to the scentific area. Instead it also has relations with some other things like speaking a language or using software, including Rosetta Stone Japanese and Rosetta Stone Korean. If you have a creative mind, you will make all your own differences in the end!

Tags: education, Impacts, System