N.C. #1: NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED TEACHERS

State Leads the Nation for the 14th Consecutive Year


North Carolina once again leads the nation in the total number of teachers who have earned certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards with 15,695 teachers now certified. This group of teachers accounts for nearly 19 percent of all the 83,359 National Board Certified teachers in the nation. North Carolina also ranked first in the nation in the number of newly-certified teachers, as the state is home to 1,509 of the 8,874 educators nationwide who earned the recognition this year.

Three North Carolina school districts are among the nation's top 20 in terms of the number of teachers who achieved National Board Certification in 2009. They include: Charlotte-Mecklenburg-2nd (221), Wake County-3rd (197) and Guilford-9th (69). Five North Carolina school districts are among the nation's top 20 in terms of the number of teachers who achieved National Board Certification over time. They include: Wake County-2nd (1,702), Charlotte-Mecklenburg-5th (1,439), Guilford-11th (592), Forsyth-18th (413) and Buncombe-20th (371).

North Carolina supports teachers' efforts to achieve National Board Certification in the following ways:

• Payment up front of the $2,500 assessment fee. (Teachers are obligated to teach in the state the following year whether or not they achieve certification.)

• Three paid release days from normal teacher responsibilities to develop their portfolios.

• A 12-percent salary supplement to the teachers' regular salary, good for the 10-year life of the certification.

• 15 continuing education units (CEUs) awarded to the individual for completing the National Board Certification process.

The State Board of Education awards a North Carolina teaching license to out-of-state teachers who possess National Board Certification.

National Board Certification, the highest credential in the teaching profession, requires an extensive series of performance-based assessments including teaching portfolios, student work samples, videotapes and thorough analyses of the candidates' classroom teaching and student learning. Teachers also complete a series of written exercises that probe the depth of their subject-matter knowledge, as well as their understanding of how to teach those subjects to their students.

National Board Certification was first offered in 1994, when eight North Carolina teachers achieved this professional credential. Since then, the number of teachers in the state receiving the certification has continued to grow. North Carolina has led the nation in the number of National Board Certified teachers for 14 years. The other states in the top three this year are Florida, with 13,281 and South Carolina, with 7,293 certified teachers.

For more information on National Board Certification.