New Board Certified Teachers

(KY Educational Professional Standards Board)–Kentucky has celebrated 316 newly certified National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), the fifth largest class of NBCTs in the nation. With 3,601 NBCTs, Kentucky ranks seventh in the nation for the percentage of teachers who are board-certified (8.6 percent) and eighth in the nation for the total number of board-certified teachers.

This large class of newly board-certified teachers, the second largest in Kentucky’s history, represents the first to be certified in the 3.0 version. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has revised the certification process to be more flexible and accommodating; it can be completed in one to three years while maintaining high and rigorous standards. Kentucky currently has over 700 teachers that are candidates in the new certification process.

NBCTs are entitled to an annual $2,000 salary bonus for the life of their certificate. Upon successful completion of board certification, Kentucky teachers currently holding a Rank II certificate are eligible to apply for Rank I.

National Board Certification is voluntary and open to all teachers who have three years of classroom experience and a baccalaureate degree. National Board Certification is available in 25 certificate areas from preschool through 12th grade.

The Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky National Board Certified Teacher Network, and the Education Professional Standards Board have worked collaboratively with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards for three years as a site in the Network to Transform Teaching funded by the U.S. Department of Education Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant.

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