Teachers in the Puyallup School District are finding new ways to approach learning.
By becoming National Board Certified educators they look at not just what they’re teaching, but why and if students are learning what they’re taught.
This year, the total number of certified teachers who have taught in the district rose to 27.
Thirteen gained their certification in 2007, More than twice as many as last year and almost three times as many as the year before.
The process puts educators through a year-long process in demonstrating their proficiency in a variety of standards about teaching and learning.
“The real benefactors are students,” said Gaye Lantz, district administrator.
Educators who go after their National Board Certification spend a year reflecting on how they teach, she said. Teaching and learning go hand in hand.
“It’s about the outcome,” she said. “You can’t separate the two.”
To get certification, educators take tests, write papers, create a portfolio and provide video of class lessons.
“It was definitely tenuous,” said Chris Carlson, a Kalles Junior High teacher. “It was a tough process. It forced me to reflect on what I was doing and why I was doing it.”
Carlson received her certification credentials this year. The process led her to really reflect on how students are learning. It’s not just about teaching, but finding ways to teach so each student is learning the material.
Because the process emphasized reflecting on teaching methods, Carlson said, reflection became part of how she teaches.
“It’s a really reflective process,” she said. “It’s something we always do in teaching anyway.”
But through certification, educators look at how they reflect differently. They find linkages with what can be done, so a student learns material.
It’s encouraging to see teachers look at the relationship between teaching and learning, Carlson said.
“It was a good process,” she said, adding that she grumbled about some of the work, but has seen positive changes in how she teaches.
Seventeen Puyallup teachers have received their certification on their first try. Nationally, about 40 percent of educators earn certification their first try and in Washington about 50 percent pass the first time around, Lantz said. Teachers have up to two years to redo parts of their certification if they did not pass the first time, with educators passing about 80 percent of the time on their next try.
Beyond improving how they teach, National Board Certified teachers receive a $5,000 a year pay increase, for ten years.
“It’s not so much about the money,” Lantz said. “It’s more about how their skill set has improved.”
In 2006, Edgerton Elementary third-grade teacher Ken Cook received his certification.
“It’s structured appropriately to really reflect on how you practice,” Cook said. “You sort of rethink everything you do. As an educator for 25 years, Cook said he like most teachers often do reflect on how they can improve student’s learning, but the sometimes the busy schedule of teaching gets in the way.
By focusing on how students learn he’s able to really reflect on keeping students and himself accountable for their learning progress.
Since certification, he finds himself spending more time at school with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, because his standards are higher.
He now approaches lessons differently, by reflecting on the experience with students, such as why they are covering something?
“I think it helps them make connections,” Cook said. “Now we’re doing a better job at learning.”
Cook also feels it is a good way to recognize highly skilled teachers.
“There are a lot of excellent teachers who are not board certified,” he said. “But it does show you’ve met certain standards and incorporated it into your practice.”
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