National Board Certification: Impact on Student Achievement and Teacher Practices. Information Capsule. Volume 0917
Author: Blazer, Christie
Date: 2010-05-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Teacher Certification,Academic Achievement,Evidence,Program Effectiveness,Achievement Gains,Comparative Analysis,Statistical Significance,Teacher Persistence,Correlation,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Competencies,Teaching Methods,Educational Practices

The combination of difficult economic times and increased accountability has led policymakers to call for evidence that students taught by National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)-certified teachers make greater achievement gains than those taught by non-NBPTS-certified teachers. Overall, studies show mixed results regarding the impact of National Board Certification on student achievement. Some research has found that students assigned to NBPTS-certified teachers make greater achievement gains than students assigned to non-NBPTS-certified teachers, while others have found no such differences. The results of studies have varied depending on the subject area, grade level, and group of teachers analyzed. This review included two studies that can be considered among the most definitive available with regard to testing the efficacy of National Board Certification. Both studies addressed the key issue of whether students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers exhibit greater academic achievement gains than students taught by non-NBPTS-certified teachers. One study was conducted by Cantrell and colleagues (2008) and is to date the only research study addressing National Board Certification that has received the seal of approval (i.e., &quot;well-implemented randomized controlled trial&quot;) from the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse. This type of recognition and evaluation carries considerable weight in the field of educational research at the present time. Cantrell and associates found minimal impact of National Board Certification on student achievement in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The other important study, conducted within Florida's own school district and partially funded by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (Cavalluzzo, 2004), found what was described as &quot;robust evidence&quot; for National Board Certification. However, upon closer inspection, one finds a very small positive effect which would be equivalent, for the average student, to a difference of approximately one or two percentile points (Effect Size = 0.07 to 0.08, or 7 to 8 percent of one standard deviation) in favor of students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers. The fact that this finding was statistically significant should not imply high importance since the large sample size used in the study contributed to making such a small effect statistically significant. It can be argued that the size of the difference between NBPTS-certified and non-NBPTS-certified teachers may have been statistically significant, but not in a manner that makes a practical difference in the real world. This Information Capsule presents research on the positive and negative impact of National Board Certification on Student Achievement, as well as the Board's impact on classroom and professional practices. It also shows its impact on teacher retention rates, and describes the unequal distribution of National Board Certified teachers.