Case study: National Board teachers take the instructional lead
By John Myers
September 11, 2009
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the granting body for teaching’s gold standard credential, has released a case study on Chicago Public Schools’; growing pool of master teachers. The report comes on the heels of the district’s achievement of a goal it set in 2000: to increase the city’s ranks of National Board certified teachers up to 1,200.
The report suggests that schools with a critical mass of National Board teachers on staff can greatly impact student learning. In fact, National Board teachers now make up more than 15 percent of the teaching force in more than 50 Chicago schools.
Under former Schools CEO Arne Duncan, now US Secretary of Education, the district also made strides toward increasing the number of master teachers at work in the lowest-performing schools in the neediest communities—a problem that hurt the movement early. Now some 60 percent of schools with concentrated student poverty (85 percent or more), have at least one National Board teacher.
But the real lessons offered up in the case study come from National Board teachers who have taken on leadership roles in their schools. One teacher is Molly Myers, who setup a website for teachers at Lindblom Math and Science Academy to view video footage of their teaching and critique one another.
The report suggests that schools with a critical mass of National Board teachers on staff can greatly impact student learning. In fact, National Board teachers now make up more than 15 percent of the teaching force in more than 50 Chicago schools.
Under former Schools CEO Arne Duncan, now US Secretary of Education, the district also made strides toward increasing the number of master teachers at work in the lowest-performing schools in the neediest communities—a problem that hurt the movement early. Now some 60 percent of schools with concentrated student poverty (85 percent or more), have at least one National Board teacher.
But the real lessons offered up in the case study come from National Board teachers who have taken on leadership roles in their schools. One teacher is Molly Myers, who setup a website for teachers at Lindblom Math and Science Academy to view video footage of their teaching and critique one another.
[National Board Certified Teachers are] staying in inner-city schools, they’re committed to the system, and that’s what we want. We want our best talent going back and working in those communities that need the most help.”Arne Duncan U.S. Secretary of Education, former CEO, Chicago Public Schools
Working together, we have been able to turn what were once called the worst schools in the nation into a national model for reform.Mr. Richard M. Daley Former Mayor, City of Chicago
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NBPTS Profiles in Excellece: Chicago, ILNational Board for Professional Teaching Standards - Profiles in Excellence: Chicago, Illinois
Leveraging National Board Certification in a District-wide Human Capital Initiative
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