Archived Information American Board Certification

1. Archived InformationAmerican Board Certification Presentation by Buffy DeBreaux-Watts American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence

2. American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence Founded in 2001 by Education Leaders Council and the National Council on Teacher Quality

3. What does the American Board offer? • Passport to TeachingSM Certification for Prospective Teachers • Master TeacherSM Certification for experienced teachers

4. Advantages of alternative certification • People coming into teaching through alternative routes tend to be older, people of color, more men, have academic degrees other than education, and have experiences in other occupations. • Early data from several states indicate that individuals entering teaching through alternative routes have higher retention rates than those entering from traditional college based programs. C. Emily Feistritzer (2000); L. Klagholz (1999)

5. American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence meets the federal definition of “Highly Qualified” and is recognized in NCLB as an approved provider (Title II, Part A, National Activities Section) “Encourage all states to adopt American Board Certification as an alternate route to full certification,” Secretary Paige Alternative Route to Certification

6. American Board Certification • Current Certification Areas • Elementary (K-6) Passport available in August, 2003 • English (6-12) Passport available in Winter, 2003 • Mathematics (6-12) Passport available in Winter, 2003 • Master Teacher Certification in Elementary, English and Math will be available in 2004.

7. Passport to TeachingSMCertification A credential offered to individuals holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, who can: • Pass a criminal background check; • Pass a series of rigorous examinations covering the areas of subject area mastery, written language skills, and a fundamental knowledge of teaching.

8. Elements that support Content Validity • Rigorous Standards – developed and reviewed by a group of nationally recognized experts, researchers, teacher educators, teachers, administrators, and school practitioners.

9. American Board Standards Development Process Subject Area Standards • Review of Current State and National Standards for teachers; • Review of State Standards for Students; • Select Panels who crafted standards; • Standards were reviewed by scholars, teachers, teacher educators, administrators, researchers, and policymakers.

10. American Board Elementary Education Standards: Domain example • Reading and English Language Arts • Domain 1: Alphabetics • 1.1 Alphabetic Basics & Phonemic Awareness • 1.2 Phonics Instruction • Domain 2: Fluency • Domain 3: Comprehension of Texts • 3.1 Vocabulary Development • 3.2 Interpretation and Evaluation of Informational Texts. • 3.3 Interpretation and Evaluation of Literary Texts. • Domain 4: Oral and Written Language Development • 4.1 Standard English Language Conventions • 4.2Language Acquisition and Development • 4.3 Comprehension and Delivery of Spoken Messages • 4.4 Writing Strategies & Applications • 4.5 Research Strategies.

11. Professional Teaching Knowledge Standards • Select Panel of Researchers, teachers, administrators, and teacher educators; • Review of current standards for pedagogy at the state and national level; • Review of the literature to select empirically validated strategies— • Linked to student achievement • Replicated • Supported by leaders in the field • Standards were reviewed by teachers (new and experienced), teacher educators, administrators, school psychologists, special educators, researchers, and policymakers.

12. Professional Teaching Knowledge • Instructional Design • Instructional Strategies • Classroom Management • Assessment Terms and Techniques • Working with Parents • Working with Diverse Students

13. American Board Offers • Self-assessment—will identify areas to help the individual focus their areas of study. • Advisor—will provide candidate a list of resources, support and advice to complete certification and participate in job search.

14. American Board Offers • Online Preparation Materials–will provide interested candidates with study and practice materials to help prepare for meeting the standards. • Resource links–will provide interested candidates with a list of resources and courses to help prepare for meeting the standards. • Test Preparation–will provide interested candidates with a list of approved vendors for test preparation.

15. American Board Offers • Descriptive Score Reports — will provide scores that indicate specific domain results and the level of passing for each candidate

16. American Board Offers • Ongoing Research–American Board certified teachers will be part of an ongoing longitudinal study that will assess teacher retention rates and measure American Board Certified teachers’ impact on student learning.

17. Benefits to States & School Districts • American Board Certified teachers meet the NCLB definition of ‘highly qualified’ placing the school district in compliance with the regulations • Expand the pool of teacher applicants for classroom positions

18. Benefits to States & School Districts • An official mechanism to us as an indicator that teachers have the subject area knowledge necessary to successfully teach classroom students. • A tool to use to determine how state bonus program dollars are spent (Master Teacher).

19. Resources • American Board Certification Information - www.abteach.org American Board Circular– a biweekly publication that focuses on issues in certification