A Push to Put Educators to the Test

They ponder Shakespeare, the Iraqi weapons inspection dispute and whether to eat M&Ms; or Fruit Roll-Ups for a snack. They are only sixth-graders, but they use words such as “meticulous,” refer to their desk pods as “nation-states” and dramatize poems on the classroom stage.

In Claire Ratfield’s class at Abraham Lincoln Elementary, most students are only 11 years old, but they are treated like sophisticated young scholars, a change in philosophy that Ratfield developed after preparing for and passing two rigorous national teaching exams several years ago.

Ratfield is the only “double-certified” teacher in the country, so anointed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the categories of early and middle childhood education.

“It has changed my life,” Ratfield said of the teaching exams. “It makes you critical of how you teach. It forces you to push the envelope every day in the classroom. This is the answer to break from mediocrity in education.”

Promising rhetoric like that was in the air a decade ago, however, when a Carnegie Corp. report first inspired creation of the national board. It was seen as a way not only to improve classroom instruction, but to give teachers the same status and credibility--the same professionalism--as doctors or lawyers.

Since then, no less than President Clinton has championed the program, saying he hopes to see 100,000 teachers board certified by the year 2006.

So why is Ratfield still so unusual?

To date, only about 900 teachers in 41 states have passed the board’s tests--only 69 in all of California. Orange County has 10 of those.

As debate continues over the caliber of the state’s teaching corps, Ratfield has joined the ranks of educators who contend that one way to determine where teachers need improvement is to evaluate them on a national scale.

That’s the mission of the National Board, a Michigan-based nonprofit organization that offers certification in 30 specialties--ranging from elementary English to art--for teachers who demonstrate their knowledge and skills by completing about a dozen teaching assignments and getting evaluated by a 63-member panel.

In Ratfield’s case, the grueling process--particularly her research on the brain and child development and having to analyze her teaching methods--prompted her to change her classroom practices, searching for ways to present complicated material in a simple manner.

But changing what happens in her own classroom proved easier than changing what happens beyond it.

Trying to demonstrate the value of the National Board to other educators has often stirred hostility and cynicism, Ratfield said. “At first there was resentment because there was a lack of knowledge,” she said. “Whenever I talked about the National Board, people treated me like I was trying to be better than them.”

What’s more, other teachers have little practical incentive to undergo the scrutiny and take an exam for which they must pay $2,000. And for that, they buy the privilege of having to create innovative curricula and implement them in the classroom. They then must show the national board their results through essays, videotapes and samples of students’ work. And the final task is an eight-hour written and oral exam. Only 30% of the teachers pass.

As intimidating as that can be, there’s another reason for the low participation rate--few states offer support to those who get certification. A handful, including Mississippi, Ohio and Connecticut, have enacted laws giving raises to board certified teachers. In California, however, a proposal to cover part of the exam fee has stalled in the Legislature amid disagreement over exactly what it should authorize.

As of last year, the state had the second largest number of board certified teachers in the nation, with its 69, but it has begun falling behind. This year it gained just one--and lost another board certified teacher to Alaska. Meanwhile, Ohio added 101, bringing its total to 147, the second highest in the nation.

The leader, with 207, is North Carolina, whose governor, James B. Hunt, helped found the National Board. His state pays the exam fee, gives teachers three days off to prepare for the tests and awards a 12% raise to those who earn certification.

“Our teachers’ accomplishments have certainly helped our reputation,” said Karen Garr, teacher advisor to Hunt.

In January, the California Assembly will again consider a bill (AB 858) to pay half the $2,000 test fee for 100 teachers. It also would make it easier for out-of-state teachers with board certification to obtain a California teaching license.

At many school districts, meanwhile, administrators shy away from giving bonuses to board certified teachers because they fear that such a move would add to the controversy over how to award merit pay and create a caste system among teachers.

Los Alamitos Unified School District has two of Orange County’s 10 board certified teachers, for instance, but does not intend to reward them.

“Decisions on salary schedules require collective bargaining with the teachers union,” Assistant Supt. Lorene Gonia said. “And merit pay has never been well received.”

But there is some momentum for the certification process.

In Los Angeles, the teacher’s union last month won approval from the school board to give 15% raises to board certified teachers. Though only one Los Angeles Unified teacher has been board certified, the new pay incentive has prompted 150 others to inquire about the process, said Day Higuchi, president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

Pepperdine University this year began offering a master’s program that prepares teachers for certification. “We looked to the National Board because it is based on the notion of relevant practice,” said Linda Polin, director of the Pepperdine program. “Teachers are expected to make connections between theory and practice.”

In addition to her sixth-grade teaching duties, Ratfield will be an instructor at Pepperdine--all while she continues to promote national certification. This year, she created a nonprofit foundation to help teachers pay for the exams and prep materials.

She has only collected $15,000 so far but hopes to raise $12 million in private donations in the next year to operate the Community Incentives for Teaching Excellence [CITE] foundation. She also hopes eventually to get state support.

“I believe in this so much,” she said. “It’s like knowing what the cure for cancer is, but I have to jump through all these hoops so I can tell everyone about it.”