The National Board Certification Process: A Comparison of the Perceptions of National Board Certified Teachers and National Board Candidates in West Virginia

More than twenty years of research have been devoted to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process, much of it focused on the effects of National Board certified teachers (NBCTs) on student achievement. Less attention has been paid to the effects of the process on teachersʼ skills and practices, while virtually no research has focused on teachers who attempted the process but did not succeed (NB Candidates). Using the NBPTS Five Core Propositions as a basis for survey items and open-ended questions, this mixed-methods study examined and compared the perceptions of West Virginia NBCTs and National Board Candidates (NB Candidates) from 2004-2009. Data indicated that NBCTs perceived the process as having great effect on their teaching practices in five areas: creating a positive learning environment, planning effective instruction, delivering effective instruction, assessing student learning, and belonging to a larger learning community. NB Candidates perceived the process as having moderate effects, at best, on those same practices. Neither group perceived any effect on their knowledge of subject matter. Results also indicated that while the pay raise associated with National Board certification was the primary motivation for both groups, teachers whose motivations included professional development or encouragement from friends and colleagues were slightly more likely to certify. Similarly, teachers who utilized a support group of friends and colleagues were more likely to certify, whereas those who utilized a RESA sponsored support group were less likely to certify. Support components such as deadlines, mentoring, feedback, collegiality, and help with directions were perceived as most important. Ancillary findings included higher certification rates for females in the population as well as higher certification rates for more experienced teachers