Develop a Recruitment Speech

Reach Out With a Strong Message

It's important that prospective candidates and other audiences receive a consistent message. When speaking about National Board Certification, all NBCTs should follow the general presentation guidelines on this page.

Read the Latest Guide
It is very likely that some of the specifics related to assessment have changed since you achieved National Board Certification. Before planning a presentation for a group of colleagues or a discussion with just one or two, make sure you understand the most updated requirements for new candidates in the Guide to National Board Certification.

Follow a Basic Outline
A good presentation consists of powerful delivery, backed by great content. Some points to consider:

Emphasize and stress key points.

Begin with an overview of what you will cover in your opening remarks.

Follow with your own personal story about certification and key details about the process.

End with a summary and be sure to review the major points.

Provide an agenda that outlines major points for your audience.

Put your contact information, the NBPTS website address and the candidate hotline: 1-800-22TEACH on your materials.

Keep Your Goal in Mind
Your goal is to give potential candidates information about National Board Certification, the process, and how it strengthens the teaching profession. You will be providing them the information they need to make the smart decision to pursue certification.

Give NBPTS Background
Explain the purpose of NBPTS, including its origins and its mission. Follow with a description of the Five Core Propositions and standards. Explain that before these rigorous standards were established, the teaching profession did not have a clear statement of what an accomplished teacher should know and be able to do. From these standards, the assessments were developed. Through these comprehensive assessments, the National Board can now certify those who meet the standards. Like other professionals, teachers can now be recognized for accomplished practice.

Describe the Benefits
Key to your recruitment efforts will be your presentation of the benefits of National Board Certification. Among them:

Invigorating, challenging self-assessment

Improved teaching

Enhance student learning

Rejuvenating professional activity

Intellectual stimulation

Strengthen the profession

Professional recognition

Leadership opportunities

Local and state incentives

Explain the Assessment Process
Provide a basic overview of the process with information about available certificate areas and portfolio due dates. Allow some time for questions. Remember, your goal is to give an overall description of the process – so no need to go into great detail. Do not share your own portfolio; rather encourage participants to explore the NBPTS Web site for more details.

Tell Your Story
Whether you are talking to a colleague in your school or to a large audience at a district meeting, teachers want to hear your story. They want to know why you chose this professional development opportunity, what was expected of you during the process, and the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of it. Your experience personalizes the certification process and allows teachers to realize that they too can pursue it, too. In sharing personal information, you should always remain upbeat and positive.

Refer to the process as “rigorous,” not “impossible.”
Keep your message focused on your professional growth and the impact the process had on your teaching and your students’ learning.
Be enthusiastic and look at your audience as accomplished teachers who have not yet had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills.

Sample Story :
An NBCT from North Carolina crafted the following succinct summary about her experience. You might consider a brief synopsis like this when sharing your personal story with candidates.

When asked to share personal experiences about the benefits of National Board Certification and the doors it opened for me, I began to reminisce over the past few years and was amazed as I considered just how much I have grown, both personally and professionally. As one of the first teachers in my state to earn National Board Certification, I was and still am approached by colleagues curious to know more about the process. It has always been very rewarding to share my experiences with peers and assure them that they too should seek certification.

Before achieving National Board Certification, I could not have imagined that I would have such a voice in affecting education on a widespread basis.

Sample Recruitment Speech:
A Mississippi NBCT delivered the following brief speech at a recruitment event. You may find the structure and message points helpful in developing your own speech.

Speech: There’s Power in the Process
Although it seems like there are many steps, there are only three steps to National Board Certification:

1. Reading and understanding the National Board Standards
2. Preparing a portfolio in your subject area(s)
3. Completing the assessment center exercises

Each of these steps is empowering in itself. If all we do is read, understand, and strive for the National Board Standards, we would all be better teachers. The assessment center exercises present us with scenarios under time constraints very much like our real-time professional lives. Yes it’s somewhat stressful; so is the average teaching day.

Preparing the portfolio is probably the most empowering step of all. What’s in it?

Our analyses and reflections on whether or not we teach according to the NBPTS Standards and evidence to support our analyses.
The work of preparing the portfolio entries is very similar to classroom or action research. It requires our stepping back from the classroom whirlpool to see what we do. My colleagues at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning call this “making the invisible visible.”
Developing the portfolio helped underscore for me the importance of dialogue and peer review. Through the process, we learn (or relearn) the power of collegiality.
Why are some afraid of the process?
Yes, it’s hard. But so is what we do everyday. Teaching is not for the fainthearted; neither is National Board Certification.
Yes, you may not achieve certification after your initial attempt. What do we tell our students when they don’t understand something the first time? Learn from it; try again.
Yes, it’s expensive. There now are many options to help deal with that. Check out the new National Board Scholarship Program as well as state and local candidate fee subsidy options.
Yes, it’s time-consuming. So, we have to make wise choices, set our priorities, and decide what we are willing to temporarily give up while we pursue that goal.
Other benefits of the process (besides achieving National Board Certification)
Becoming National Board Certified leads to networking opportunities with mentors, fellow candidates, and other NBCTs. These opportunities can lead to career-long contacts and support.
The process empowers educators by creating a level of self-confidence and self-respect among teachers that leads to greater respect for the profession.