We’ve all had one (if not quite a few more than one). A bad teacher. It happens. It’s part of school. In fact, everyone should have a bad teacher at some point. It teaches you how to persevere. But many kids get more than their fair share of bad teachers. And that’s why education is seen as such a major issue in this country. There just aren’t enough good teachers. Now, I’m usually leery of standards and certifications because they’re used by insiders to keep new people out and control the labor market, but today we’re going to take a look at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an Arlington, VA based non-profit organization. They are “dedicated to improving the teaching profession and positively impacting student learning,” and they do this by “maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.”

What Are Your Standards?

I still see the education problem in this country as a teacher supply issue as opposed to a teacher selection issue, but that doesn’t mean that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards can’t help our society better grasp what it takes to make a good teacher—that’s really important. The NBPTS’s first policy statement was called What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do, and that came out in 1987. Since then, they’ve developed The Five Core Propositions, which “form the foundation and frame the rich amalgam of knowledge, skills, dispositions and beliefs that characterize National Board Certified Teachers.” A congressionally mandated study has found that the NBPTS’s work has “a positive impact on student achievement, teacher retention, and professional development,” so you may want to consider getting involved with them. Their Jobs page only shows a Research Associate position that requires 5 years of experience and a Masters degree; however, they have a full-time, paid Assessment Internship posted on Idealist right now. It really looks more like an entry level job than an internship, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• NBPTS.org
• Jobs at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
• About the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ History
• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards News

What do you think about the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards?

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• research
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• Virginia
• Washington DC

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