The Long and Winding Road to National Board Certification

Benefits, considerations, and tips from a teacher on her second attempt to become an NBCT.

Photo by Jannes Glas on Unsplash.

Four days ago, I clicked “submit” on my second attempt to become a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT). Developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, this license indicates that a teacher has demonstrated mastery of 1) content knowledge, 2) differentiation in instruction, 3) teaching practice and learning environment, and 4) effective and reflective practitioning.

In the final week leading up to the deadline, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I’d been working on National Board Certification for almost three years (including a one-year interlude due to the pandemic), during which time I’d gotten engaged, married, a new job, a house, and a second master’s degree. And once again, I started to wonder whether this prolonged (and at times, painful) process had been worth it. I mean, there’s still a chance I might not pass, I remember thinking as I proofread a Google Doc for what seemed like the hundredth time. Do I really want to go through this again?

Armed with caffeine and a lifetime supply of obstinance, I managed to press on and make it across the finish line. And now, after a weekend of rest and recovery, I’m ready to reflect on the benefits of and considerations for undertaking the National Board process (not to mention share a few tips I’ve gained from my experience).

Benefits

1. Meaningful Professional Development: In addition to the AVID Summer Institute, the National Board certification process is by far the most meaningful professional development I’ve ever experienced. Learning about — and more importantly, applying — the National Board’s “Five Core Propositions” (teachers are committed to students and their learning, teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students, teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning, teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience, and teachers are members of learning communities) enabled me to create a more engaging, rigorous classroom in which I helped students assess their own progress and set their own goals. I’ve also become much more deliberate about the types of resources and strategies I use to involve students in the learning process (including creating a digital portfolio in which students can monitor their reading and writing growth across time.)
2. Opportunities for Self-Reflection: The National Board certification process is engineered so that candidates constantly reflect on (and make necessary adjustments to) their instruction with questions like, How did the pedagogical and instructional decisions you made during the lesson align with your planning? How did you establish a safe, fair, equitable, and challenging learning environment for all students? To what extent did you achieve the lesson’s goal or goals? What would you do differently, if anything, if you were to teach this particular lesson again to a similar group of students? Taking the time to engage in metacognitive thinking about my instruction has helped me make more purposeful choices about what, how, and why students are learning.
3. Connecting with Other Professionals: Although I’m part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) at my high school, I’ve been able to learn with (and from) NBCTs and candidates across content areas and developmental levels as part of my district’s National Board coaching program. While most of our conversations focused on aspects of the National Board components, we were also able to exchange ideas about curriculum and classroom management that have helped me become a more effective teacher. What’s more, surrounding myself with dedicated teachers inspired me to continue improving myself as an educator — not to mention push through the certification process.
4. Improving Student Outcomes: In theory, teachers who go through the National Board experience should be able to leverage their knowledge and skills to improve learning outcomes for their students. Anecdotally, I’ve gained a much stronger grasp of instructional design (an area of growth according to my National Board score report) and have been able to more successfully align instructional goals with strategies. Interestingly, however, there is limited quantitative data to support the link between National Board Certification and student achievement; in fact, a leading study by James Cowan and Dan Goldhaber at the Center for Education Data and Research in Seattle found “mixed evidence” that teachers who obtained certification are more effective than those who did not obtain certification.
5. Stipend: Some districts and states offer incentive pay for teachers to become NBCTs (and maintain their certification). In my district, NBCTs receive a $4,000 initial stipend and an $800 yearly stipend for as long as they remain certified.

Considerations

1. Cost: The total cost for National Board certification is about $2,000; however, some districts will pay for some or all of the components (check out the “Start early” tip below for more information about funding opportunities). In addition, if you don’t pass on the first try, you’ll need to repay the $75 registration fee and $475 per component.
2. Time: As someone who attempted all four components on my first try, I logged about 100 hours preparing my submission over the course of the school year (most of which I accrued on weekends). Be prepared to dedicate most of your “free” time to drafting and revising your components (I even took a few of my personal days from school to finish submitting).
3. Emotional Effort: A grueling process that requires countless hours of reading and writing, National Board certification involves patience, dedication, and most importantly, resilience. For those of us who don’t pass on our first attempt, National Board certification can also involve devastation and embarrassment. (You’ll learn more about how I worked through these feelings in the “Reframe your thinking about ‘failure’” tip below.)
4. No Guarantees: Unlike graduate programs, in which hard work typically produces a diploma, the National Board process does not grant you certification even if you put in above-and-beyond effort. If you’re willing to do the work but want to hedge your bets, go with a master’s degree.

Tips

1. Start early. If you’re aiming to submit all four components in one school year, create a National Board account and familiarize yourself with the National Board process in the summer or fall. During this time, also make sure to research funding opportunities provided by your district, union, and/or state (if you’re in Arizona like me, check out the Arizona K12 Center for information on fee support and other National Board resources). Lastly, if you’re tackling Component 3 (which involves filming), start collecting signed release forms from students and any adults who regularly work in your classroom as soon as possible.
2. Rely on your support system. Identify what my principal calls the “believers” in your life — the family members, friends, and coworkers who root for you to succeed — and then actually ask them for help (a step that many of us, myself included, struggle to take). For me, that included letting my husband pick up the groceries on Saturdays so I could work on my components and getting coffee with a fellow candidate who could empathize with the highs and lows of the National Board experience.
3. Make a binder (and then read everything in it). As someone who’s gone completely digital in my classroom, I initially resisted the advice I’d received from NBCTs to compile hard copies of the National Board standards, guidelines, and rubrics in a binder. However, the sheer amount of documents (which for my certification area, Early Adolescence-English Language Arts, is about 300 pages) eventually necessitated a trip to the copy room for printouts, pens, highlighters, and sticky notes. Despite my preference for digital resources, creating a binder ultimately helped me 1) stay organized, 2) read and annotate every single page, and 3) incorporate the seemingly innumerable requirements into my components.
4. Get feedback. Because the standards, guidelines, and rubrics are so specific to the National Board, I recommend getting feedback from teachers who have already certified and/or teachers who are going through the certification process. Over the course of my three-year candidacy, I was able to meet with multiple NBCTs and candidates in my district who were able to provide valuable insights on my writing. If you don’t have access to NBCTs or candidates in your area, try connecting to them virtually through Twitter (using #nbct and #nbctcandidate) or Facebook.
5. Reframe your thinking about “failure.” Within the first five minutes after discovering that I had “NOT YET PASSED,” I was already diving into the results of a Google search on how to get over failure. Although I was looking for a solution, I ultimately found a process: “fear-setting.” Developed by entrepreneur Tim Ferriss, “fear-setting” involves 1) defining your fears about an action, 2) identifying the benefits of an attempt at that action, and 3) considering the cost of inaction. Applying Ferriss’ concept to my National Board experience looked like this: 1) I’m afraid that I won’t certify on my second try, which will lead to even more devastation and embarrassment, 2) going through the process a second time will build resilience and demonstrate to my students that I can “walk the talk” about growth mindset, and 3) if I don’t try to certify again, I’ll miss out an an incredible opportunity to develop professionally and improve my teaching practice. By looking at my National Board experience through the lens of “fear-setting” rather than failure, I was able to summon the courage to resubmit my components and brace myself for the long wait until I find out my new results.

In conversations with my colleagues about National Board certification, I’ve learned that their number one concern relates to fear of failure. They don’t want to spend a year of their lives hunkered down at a desk digging through data and drafting page after page of “proof” of their instructional efficacy, all for an uncertain outcome that could leave them feeling inadequate and deflated.

If you’re a teacher who is still hesitant about starting your own National Board journey, I want to encourage you to just go for it. The worst that can happen is that you don’t pass on your first try (and as someone to whom that has happened, I can attest to the fact that you will survive it). The best that can happen, however, far outweighs the possibility that you’ll have to resubmit your components: you’ll become a more effective, reflective instructor who knows how to create a learning environment in which all your students can thrive.

The road to National Board certification may be a long and winding one, but it’s a journey worth taking. And if I end up having to extend my own National Board process during the next school year (I’ll get my new scores in December), I’ll remind myself that I have another opportunity to model a growth mindset and do better for myself — and my students.