Three Penns Valley Area School District teachers received certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards this year.
It’s a high honor — and a tough credential to earn.
“Just like the teaching profession, national board certification is not for the timid of heart and half-doers,” said Jacquelyn Wagner, a biology teacher at the high school who achieved the certification, along with high school English teacher Jill Geesey and elementary librarian Kristen Albright.
“This endeavor takes one-and- a-half years of dedication and much effort to obtain,” said Wagner.
But Wagner, and the other teachers who earned the honor, say they didn’t do it alone.
“It takes a village to raise a nationally board certified teacher,” Wagner said at a school board meeting where she and the other teachers were honored last month. “I have not done this in isolation, but instead I am standing on the shoulders of many people who have helped me achieve this goal.”
Prior to this year, the only nationally board certified teacher in the district was fifth-grade teacher Heather Michael.
Nationally, only 40 percent of first-time candidates qualify for the credential, according to Penns Valley officials.
“There are about 150,000 teachers in Pennsylvania in 500 school districts. And just over 1,000 teachers of those have reached ... national board certification,” said Sherri Connell, the district’s assistant superintendent. “Penns Valley is very proud.”
As part of the application, teachers must put together a portfolio that includes samples of student work and assignments, videotaped lessons and an analysis of their classroom teaching. They also must pass an assessment of their subject.
Geesey, a language arts teacher with 25 years of experience, credited curriculum changes to improving her skills as a teacher.
She started training in the reading apprenticeship program several years ago.
It’s a framework, developed by the San Francisco based-nonprofit WestEd, that focuses on demystifying reading for middle and high school students. For Geesey, that meant analyzing and understanding the metacognitive processes behind reading — and then modeling best practices for students.
“Yes, I’m an excellent reader. And I love to read,” Geesey told board members. “But I couldn’t have necessarily identified what I was doing in my head to achieve successful reading” before the reading apprenticeship training.
Wagner said the application process made her better at her job and even more introspective.
“When one has 20 minutes of video and it needs to support a 13-page portfolio entry, you look at every word, every interaction,” said Wagner. “You can’t help but learn something about your students and yourself that you didn’t know before.”
Albright has been a teacher for 16 years, and she came to Penns Valley in 2005.
She has decided to take an additional online class that will allow her to be a trainer for the national board certification process. She’s also been working with teachers nationally.
“We’re part of a Yahoo group, a Twitter group and two Facebook groups,” said Albright. “And we all collaborate.”
Ed Mahon writes about news from the Penns and Brush Valley regions. He can be reached at 231-4619 or emahon@centredaily.com.
