SCET Journal 2020

Reflecting on

Teaching

VHS Cassettes, CD-ROMs, and Twenty Years of National Board Certification

Jennifer D. Morrison

Last week, I submitted my third National Board portfolio; my second renewal. I uploaded a 10-minute video recorded on my phone, scanned graphics and illustrations using an app, converted student-designed web pages into PDFs, and pulled my commentaries from the cloud where others had provided feedback. While this seemed quite routine, I took a moment to realize how very different the process looked now compared to twenty years ago when I first became acquainted with the National Board (NB), and I reflect- ed on not only how far the technology has come in that time period, but how far I have come as well. Initial Certification In 1998, reading a copy of NCTE’s Council Chroni- cle , I became aware of a program that certified teach- ers on a national level, the National Board for Profes- sional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). While founded a decade earlier in North Carolina in response to the landmark report, A Nation at Risk ( https://www.nbpts. org/mission-history/ ), its focus began largely in gen- eralist and elementary levels. As a Maryland-based, high school English teacher, it had not entered into my sphere of knowledge until that fortuitous article, which announced the inaugural year for my certification area – English/Language Arts, Adolescence/Young Adult- hood (ELA/AYA). It also happened to coincide with a tiny, two-line advertisement in my district’s newslet- ter offering to pay registration fees for anyone who chose to pursue National Board Certification (NBC). Intrigued, I sought to determine what people knew about the program. Other than its existence, even people in the upper echelons of my district’s central

office knew little about it. I became obsessed with the idea of pursuing this certification because what I did know was that this process was a way of docu- menting a teacher’s knowledge and skills, her science and craft. Even though I had seven years of teaching experience and had been recognized locally as top in my field, I had little other than people’s word of mouth and a handful of observations and evaluations to demonstrate my expertise. NB Certification seemed like just what I was looking for to show that I was not only excellent in my field but also consciously compe- tent and reflective about it as well. With almost no one to guide me, very little infor- mation, but a district willing to pay the candidacy costs, I took a leap of faith and signed up for the year-long process. In 1999, this entailed six portfolio entries, consisting of significant written commentary and documentation, and four “assessment center” activities, which were essentially timed essays taken in a single-day, secured setting (see Figure 1). The portfolio was begun in September, when candidates patiently waited for “THE BOX” to arrive in the mail carrying all necessary instructions and materials (yep, this predated the World Wide Web 2.0), and ran through mid-April when “THE BOX,” now filled with all the required elements equating to half a forest of paper and multiple VHS recordings covered in sticky labels, was dutifully shipped off to a holding station in Texas on its way to scoring. Much to my chagrin (and eventual joy), I discovered I was pregnant with my second child at the onset of my NBC commitment to my district, who had graciously paid my fees; I could not withdraw, so I had to move forward.

Figure 1: National Board Portfolio Components Across the Years

2018/2019

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