The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards administers a complex, demanding assessment designed to identify highly accomplished teachers. The district Report Card includes the average number of staff members who have received national certification in this district and the state. This section is based on March 2011 licensure data.
National Board Certification is offered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. National Board Certification is not required for teaching in the state of North Carolina, but it is a voluntary way for teachers to seek additional professional credentials that recognize their advanced teaching skills and techniques. Candidates for National Board Certification gather a portfolio of their work (including student work samples, lesson plans, and videotapes of their teaching) and complete a detailed analysis of the work they are submitting. In addition, all candidates spend a full day taking examinations that focus on their content knowledge in their teaching field. To learn more about the National Board Certification process, visit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards website.
The district Report Card allows you to compare the average number of staff with National Board Certification in this district with average numbers from schools with similar grade ranges at the state level. Use the state averages as reference points in reading district-level data. Remember that these averages only provide an indication of how favorable the data might be. It would be a mistake to judge a district or a group of teachers as "better" or "worse" based only on slight differences in these data. A lack of National Board Certified teachers in your district is not an indication that your district's teachers are unqualified.
District and state averages are calculated based on schools with similar grade ranges. This table uses six grade level categories in order to provide you with the most accurate data for comparisons. Across the state, districts vary the way they split grade levels across schools. Schools might have standard grade level groupings (K-5, 6-8, 9-12), or they may have less common ones, like: K-12, K-8, 7-12, 4-5, 6-11, and 10-12. Since schools are different depending on the age of the children they serve, the categories in this table group schools with other schools "most like theirs." For additional information about how school grade levels are categorized see the Data Sources & Information Guide.
For technical information about when and how National Board Certification data are collected, see the Data Sources & Information Guide.