The most recent teachers at Heritage to become National Board Certified are Tom Baldwin, Nancy Keller, and Shawn Perez. All three worked tremendously hard to accomplish their goal. They were in agreement that it was a very difficult task to go about, as becoming a board certified teacher one must demonstrate advanced teaching knowledge, skills and practices.
According to a statement from the National Research Council, “The evidence is clear that National Board Certification distinguishes more effective teachers…with respect to student achievement.”
There are a number of teachers at our school who have previously labored over becoming board certified. Some of these teachers are Joel Bieker, Miranda Brothers, Rosemary Fryer, Luke Glassett, and Mary Thompson.
Baldwin had said that once you become board certified, it basically means that you have become accomplished in your career and, “it is nice to know that you are considered accomplished.” He went on to say, “The process of becoming board certified was like graduate school. Very difficult, but I wanted to engage my mind and stay up to date with what is cutting edge in student counseling.”
Perez said of the experience, “It was more challenging than I wanted it to be. I aged a lot, but am glad to have it.” She survived with the support of both her family and fellow teachers.
Keller went into elaborate detail about the actual process of becoming certified. She noted that one of her most challenging parts was a massive test she had to take because she isn’t the best test taker. She took the test three years ago but became ill and didn’t pass. But as she always says, “If at first you don’t succeed just try, try, again!” This time, however, she passed the test.
Congratulations to all who have taken the plunge and spent the numerous hours working on reaching this achievement and contributed to our district’s having the fifth largest number of board certificated teachers in the state.
Becoming a National Board Certified teacher benefits the students they teach.