The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards announced on Wednesday, November 15 that 20 East Baton Rouge Parish School System teachers successfully completed the rigorous assessment for National Board Certification and are now recognized as among the nation’s top educators. This certification is the highest credential in the teaching profession.

The East Baton Rouge School System leads the state in the number of new teachers achieving certification and now has 146 teachers who are National Board Certified.  Louisiana ranked 13th in the nation for the number of new National Board Certified teachers and 16th nationally in the number of overall teachers who have achieved this distinction.  Including the new teachers announced recently, Louisiana has a total of 1,681 teachers who are now Nationally Board Certified and joins 22 other states that showed at least a 10-percent increase in the number of 2010 nationally certified teachers. 

In an effort to help raise the bar for excellence in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, these teachers voluntarily took part in the one to three year process to complete certification.

While the state has suspended funding for this achievement, teachers who successfully complete the process will receive an annual salary supplement of $5,000 funded by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The pay supplement will last 10 years, the life of the certificate, and will continue if the teachers renew their certification at that time.

“The announcement today shows the sheer dedication of our teachers in our district,” said Superintendent John Dilworth. “We are very pleased to have 20 additional teachers complete this rigorous program. There is no doubt teachers who complete this assessment have successfully demonstrated strong teaching practices that will carry over to the classroom and lead to an increase in student achievement.” 

For more information on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, go to www.nbpts.org