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The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the MCT scores (reading, math, and language arts) of two groups of students (those taught by a NBCT and those who were not), and if there was a difference, how those differences can be explained based on selected teacher demographic data (endorsement area of certification, sex, age, race, highest degree received, years of experience, and National Board Certification status). Teachers? National Board Certification (NBC) status and age were identified as variables that contribute to the difference in the reading, language arts, and math Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) scores. Students who were taught by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) are more likely to have higher reading and language arts standardized test scores than students who were taught by non-NBCTs. While researchers have also concluded that teachers? years of experience, endorsement area (s), and highest degree received play a vital role in the differences found in students? achievement, this study did not confirm those findings. The results of this study, however, indicated that teachers whose ages ranged from 41-50 tend to have higher reading, language arts, and math MCT scores. The majority of teachers in this age group were NBCTs.

The challenges of school accountability call for new models of school leadership. Teacher leaders are needed to create, implement, and sustain reform efforts. This study investigated whether a specific model of professional development, National Board Certification (NBC), can create sustained change aimed at improved school leadership. The research question which guided this study was: Does the National Board Certification professional development model contribute to school leadership in Louisiana? The state of Louisiana currently has approximately 1,000 teachers with National Board Certification (NBPTS, 2006f). These NBC teachers and approximately 3,000 non-NBC teachers received the online School Leadership Survey, which included survey items taken from a previous study of NBC teachers by Sykes, et al. (2006). A total of 449 NBC teachers and 911 non-NBC teachers responded. The survey included 32 checklist items which explored teacher leadership activities and perceptions in five main areas: types of leadership activities, sense of responsibility to the profession, influence in school-wide policy development, career satisfaction, and future commitment to the teaching profession. A quantitative research design was applied. The research followed an ex post facto, cross-sectional survey model in an attempt to identify a relationship between the independent variable, National Board Certification, and the dependent variable, school leadership, by comparing the leadership activities of NBC and non-NBC teachers. Univariate analysis was used to examine and report the results of the School Leadership Survey. Additionally, the data were used to calculate independent t-tests, factor analysis, chi square tests, and regression analysis.The results of this study revealed that, overall, National Board Certification teachers are leaders in their schools and beyond. When compared to their non-NBC peers, NBC teachers were more likely to be involved in leadership activities at the school, district, and state level. Further, the NBC teachers reported a greater sense of responsibility to the profession, greater career satisfaction, and a deeper commitment to stay in the teaching profession than non-NBC teachers. Using a distributed leadership conceptual framework as a lens to guide the interpretation, the data collected gave evidence that the benefits of National Board Certification are far greater than previously suspected.

Title: LEADERSHIP ROLES FOR NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED TEACHERS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SCHOOL DISTRICTS National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) are highly skilled in the latest research-based instruction and understand the importance of data-driven instruction and its impact on student learning. Because of their expertise, NBCTs have the potential to become leadership agents for producing high-performing schools. However, there is little to no evidence that NBCTs are being encouraged to use their expertise to improve school performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore NBCTs in leadership roles in southern Illinois schools. To accomplish this purpose, three areas were explored: the extent to which NBCTs participated in leadership roles in schools and the nature of those NBCT leadership roles, NBCTs' perceptions regarding their leadership role significance, and the enablers and barriers to NBCT leadership. Mixed methods were used to interpret, analyze, and draw conclusions from quantitative and qualitative data. The findings show that prior to November 2007, 150 NBCTs were actively teaching in Regional Areas V and VI in southern Illinois school districts. Sixty-two percent (n=93) of those NBCTs responded to the request that they participate in the survey. Of those responding to the survey, over one half (59%) of NBCTs were involved in leadership roles in schools. In addition to their regular teaching assignments, the majority of these NBCTs were involved in multiple leadership roles in the seven core areas of professional growth and staff development, mentoring, curriculum development, student achievement, grant writing, school improvement, and support groups. Forty-one percent (n=38) of NBCTs indicated not having a leadership role. To determine NBCTs' perceptions of leadership role significance, NBCTs ranked the significance of their leadership role(s). The findings show that NBCTs perceived their leadership role(s) to have the most significance when addressing the following areas: (a) improved classroom practices, (b) communicating and operating from strong ideals about teaching and learning, (c) coaching and facilitating teams of teachers in school wide professional and staff development, (d) disaggregating and analyzing test scores data to increase student learning, and (e) promoting shared goals and vision. NBCTs perceived less significance when their leadership role(s) were involved in collaborating with administrators in creating and sustaining internal conditions, acting as change agents to inspire peers, leading the recognition and celebration of school accomplishments, facilitating sessions on current theories and practices, and addressing and adapting to negative undercurrents within the organization. The enablers and barriers to NBCT leadership roles were explored. The findings show that factors associated with administrators, colleagues, and circumstances beyond one's control contributed to the enabling or barring of NBCT leadership in schools.

abstract: The non-profit National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) grew out of the belief that teachers were a key factor in improving student achievement and that the profession needed a way to recognize and reward exemplary classroom teachers. Over 100,000 teachers nationwide have achieved National Board Certification across all certificate areas, with approximately 1,800 of those in the area of Physical Education. Although National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) have been the subjects of several studies since the inception of NBPTS, very few have investigated the impact of National Board Certification (NBC) and Physical Education Teachers. This study examined the teaching effectiveness of NBCPETs and non-NBCPETs as they taught intact Physical Education classes with their own students. Participating teachers were provided with an experimental teaching unit (ETU) with a specific learning objective, but were free to plan and design the intended instruction. This study also examined the cognitive processes of NBCPETs and non-NBCPETs during interactive teaching. Academic Learning Time-Physical Education (ALT-PE), the System for Observing Fitness Instructional Time (SOFIT), stimulated-recall interviews, and document analysis were utilized for data collection. Pre- and post-tests on the ETU specific learning objective were conducted to determine student learning and three lessons were videotaped and used in subsequent analysis. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted following each lesson, lasting between 5 to 15 minutes. Themes that emerged from the stimulated-recall interviews across all teachers included: 1) building on past skills, 2) modifications to increase physical activity, and 3) goal-directed instruction. In addition, there is no difference between the amount of time students of NBCPETs engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as compared to students of non-NBCPETs. Similarly, students of non-NBCPETs are provided the same amount of motor activity at an appropriate success rate (ALT-PE) as students of NBCPETs. Lastly, the results showed no difference in gain scores of the learning objectives between the two groups of teachers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2014

Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School Administration The state of Louisiana has spent a large amount of money over the past years to ensure highly qualified teachers for every student. This study aimed to discover whether or not there was a statistically significant association between teachers who attain National Board Certification and student gains in achievement on standardized tests specifically the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) in an urban Louisiana school district. The research was to determine if students taught by Nationally Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) outperformed students of comparable backgrounds taught by Non-Nationally Board Certified Teachers (Non-NBCTs). To accomplish this, the research examined English Language Arts and Mathematics test scores of fourth and eighth grade students taught by NBCTs and compared them with those of students taught by Non-NBCTs to determine if the gains made by the group taught by NBCTs were statistically significantly different from those taught by Non-NBCTs. The results of the data analysis indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the score differences of fourth grade English Language Arts students and eighth grade English Language Arts students taught by NBCTs when compared to those taught by Non-NBCTs. The fourth and eighth grade score differences of students taught by NBCTs were statistically significantly higher. However, the analysis of the data also revealed there was not a statistically significant difference between the score differences of 4th grade math students taught by NBCTs when compared to those taught by Non-NBCTs. There were no NBCTs for 8th grade Mathematics students. One recommendation for further research should be to focus on more than one district to determine if results would be similar. Another recommendation, the Louisiana Department of Education should study all areas of high-stakes testing within the state to determine if teacher certification, especially NBCTs, have an impact on student achievement. The Louisiana Department of Education’s should use its extensive data base for a study determine whether National Board Certification contributes to increases in student achievement across all grade levels.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to portray kindergarten teachers' developmentally appropriate practices in order to authenticate the essential component of play. Recently, student achievement has been the primary focus in Early Childhood Education, and play is seen as an action that precludes academic learning. This is a qualitative study of teachers' perceptions and teaching practices through observations, interviews, surveys, and journal reflections. The study found that participant kindergarten teachers: (1) have a developing understanding of the positive impact play has on student development, yet they are not aware of how to successfully implement play in their classroom; (2) tend to be more work driven than play driven in their daily activities; and (3) perceive play occurrs when manipulatives are made available for student use, however, the activities are largely teacher-directed in contrast to student initiated play. In summary, participant kindergarten teachers were found to be hesitant to let their control shift to child-initiated learning. There are gaps between teacher knowledge of how child initiated play impacts learning and the actual classroom implementation of child initiated play. Teachers need further development to understand how to use materials to integrate play into daily lessons. It is important to widely disseminate and support the use of Early Childhood National Board Standards regarding play in kindergarten classrooms. Kindergarten teachers require professional development that permits the integration of knowledge of play and the implementation of play in an increasingly accountability driven environment. Keywords: Play; Perceptions of play; Learner-Centered; Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP); National Board Certification National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT); National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS); English Language Learners (ELL); English Language Development (ELD) / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Supporters of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), founded in 1987, hoped that its certification process would create a cadre of publicly recognized master teachers who would take on professional roles that have traditionally been the responsibility of administrators rather than teachers. Such a change would allow teaching to become a true profession, regulated collegially instead of bureaucratically. A national survey of national board certified teachers (NBCTs) administered in 2001 found little evidence that they were in fact taking on new professional roles. This study examines fifteen schools with large numbers of NBCTs in three North Carolina school districts to determine if NBCTs in these exceptional places are gaining new professional roles, and what factors are enabling or preventing that change. Telephone interviews were conducted with state level officials in North Carolina, district level officials in each of the school districts, and one NBCT, the principal, and one non-NBCT at each school. Interviews were transcribed and coded for analysis. The results indicate that NBCTs in these schools are not taking on significant new professional roles as a result of their certification, and suggest two reasons for this lack of change. One is structural: the NBPTS, the state of North Carolina, and the three school districts studied appear to have narrowed the focus of national board certification so that it is concerned primarily with identifying and rewarding excellence in classroom teaching. This study found few explicit attempts to use NBCTs in professional leadership roles or to provide them with opportunities for professional leadership in addition to classroom teaching. Another concerns the perceived validity of the certification process: board certification is not broadly accepted among study respondents as a consistent and accurate designation of teaching excellence. The results of this study also raise questions about the persistence of egalitarian norms among teachers in schools with significant numbers of NBCTs. / 2031-01-01

A United States organization, called the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), was initiated to strengthen the pedagogy of teaching and, subsequently, improve student achievement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the NBPTS in terms of whether National Board Certified (NBC) teachers are effective in promoting positive classroom environments and student attitudes and in enhancing student achievement. The sample consisted of 927 Grade 8 and 10 science students from 12 secondary schools. Altogether, 443 students in 21 classes comprised the NBC teacher group and 484 students in 17 classes comprised the non-NBC teacher group. Students completed a learning environment questionnaire, the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC), and an attitude scale based on the Test Of Science-Related Attitude (TOSRA). Scores from the science portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test FCAT, a state-mandated examination, were collected to measure achievement. This research is unique in that it is the first time that a learning environments study has included a sample of National Board Certified (NBC) and non-NBC teachers in order to compare their effectiveness in terms of secondary students' perceptions of their science learning environment, attitudes toward science, and science achievement. The study revealed that the revised version of the WIHIC and the modified attitude scale are valid and reliable instruments for assessing perceptions of the classroom environment and attitudes toward science among secondary science students in Miami-Dade County, Florida. / In addition, a much stronger association with learning environment was found for students' attitude than for students' achievement. The contributions and significance of this study are not only that it adds to the area of research that pertains to the efficacy of NBC teachers, but it also adds to the field of learning environments research. This study is useful because it could be replicated to provide additional empirical evidence about the effect National Board teachers have on students in the classroom and add to the growth of educational data on the impact of National Teacher Certification and classroom learning environments research.

Throughout the 1980's, the notion of standards came to the forefront throughout the education world. Groups questioned how to define quality teaching. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was developed to meet this need providing a voluntary national certification to identify accomplished teachers. Since its inception, researchers have explored NBPTS. Yet, few studies sought the perspective of critical stakeholders, building principals, in evaluating the effectiveness of the NBPTS process. This study seeks to gain the perspective of those key administrators by comparing their perceptions of the National Board Certified Teachers and non-National Board Certified Teachers on their instructional staff. <br>A portion of this study replicates a study originally conducted by Dr. Robert Alvin Griffin of Auburn University. The current researcher added components exploring the leadership roles of NBCTs and the influence of school location. This study is important in Pennsylvania due to the focus on teacher effectiveness and the link between principal leadership and student achievement. <br>The study revealed a significant difference between principal perceptions of NBCTs and non-NBCTs when considering characteristics connected to the Five Core Propositions of NBPTS: Commitment to Student Learning, Knowledge of Subject Matter and How to Teach It, Management and Assessment of Student Learning, Systematic Thought about Practice, and Membership in Learning Communities. These findings are similar to those in Griffin's study. In terms of leadership, mixed reviews were noted. The majority of respondents indicated that there is no difference in leadership between NBCTs and non-NBCTs on their staff. There were no significant differences noted based upon school location of rural, urban, and suburban. <br>Findings suggest the National Board Certification process is effective and NBCTs are perceived to be more effective than their non-NBCT counterparts in all of the areas assessed on the core survey. However, the leadership piece remains unclear. Most principals perceived NBCTs as engaging in a variety of leadership activities but in generally the same ways and roles as non-NBCTs. There is work to be done by both principals and NBCTs to cultivate the leadership potential of NBCTs and increase the collective expertise of NBCTs in schools. / School of Education / Instructional Leadership Excellence (ILEAD) / EdD / Dissertation