NBPTS

Research

Elevating Teaching, Empowering Teachers

More than a decade of research from across the country confirms that students taught by National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) learn more than students taught by other teachers. Estimates of the increase in learning are on the order of an additional one to two months of instruction and the positive impact is even greater for high-need students.

Study after study has proven that the students of Board-certified teachers learn more — and the impact is greater for low-income students.

81% of Americans across the political spectrum believe teachers should achieve Board certification, beyond licensure, as it is in other professions.

2014 PDF/Gallup poll

NBCTs are Improving Student Achievement Across Mississippi.

 

Kindergarten students taught by an NBCT are 31% more likely to achieve a proficient score on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment than other students.

Source: The Impact of National Board Certified Teachers on the Literacy Outcomes of Mississippi Kindergarteners and Third-Graders, NSPARC Mississippi State University, 2017.

 

 

Third grade students taught by an NBCT are 11% more likely to achieve a proficient score on the MAP Test in English Language Arts than other students.

Source: The Impact of National Board Certified Teachers on the Literacy Outcomes of Mississippi Kindergarteners and Third-Graders, NSPARC Mississippi State University, 2017.

 

Additional Study Findings

  • In Mississippi, Over the past ten years, the National Board has made investments in the Mississippi education system to balance the disparity between teacher quality and student performance. The Hewlett Packard Awareness Grant helped to increase awareness of National Board Certification among teachers of color in Mississippi. Focus group findings showed time commitment and constraints, cost of the certification, and need for policy changes that support certified teacher compensation regardless of teaching assignment as barriers.
  • Also, in Mississippi, a 2017 study led by Mississippi State university shows that kindergarten and third-grade students with a National Board Certified reading teacher perform at a significantly higher level on literacy assessments than peers on average.
  • In Washington state, a multi-year study found that “[Board-] certified teachers are more effective than non-certified teachers with similar experience.” Their findings suggest Board-certified teachers produce gains of up to 1.5 months of additional learning. (Goldhaber and Cowen, 2015).
  • Another study in Chicago and Kentucky found that “Board certification is an effective signal of teacher quality [based on student test scores]. This finding held across locales, test types and subject areas. (CNA Corporation, 2015.)
  • Harvard University’s Strategic Data Project reported that students of Board-certified teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District gained roughly the equivalent of two months of additional instruction in Math and one month in English Language Arts. Among math teachers, this contrasts with a lack of a significant impact on teachers who held only advanced degrees (Strategic Data Project, 2012).
  • In a similar study in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Board-certified teachers outperformed their peers with the same levels of experience (Strategic Data Project, 2012a)
  • Board-Certified Teachers More Effective, New Studies Affirm – 2015 (Education Week subscription required, 2015)
  • A recent South Carolina analysis by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement found that attrition among National Board Certified Teachers is three times lower than teacher attrition statewide.