Nineteen Kansas educators are among the 3,907 nationwide who achieved the highest professional credential they can earn — they attained first-time certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in 2018.
Newly certified teachers are:
- USD 229 Blue Valley — Caroline Anderson, Rebecca Dalton, Sandy Espitia, Christy Hagan, Heather Hagstrom, Theresa Rudnick, Bethany Vokac
- USD 248 Great Bend — Traci Miller
- USD 262 Valley Center — Angie Persyn
- USD 265 Goddard — Brandy Lane
- USD 305 Salina — Jackie Ingram
- USD 305 St. John-Hudson — Angie Webb
- USD 383 Manhattan-Ogden — Julie Disbrow
- USD 437 Auburn-Washburn — Jennifer Mercer
- USD 457 Garden City — Melissa Hensley
- USD 489 Hays — Kristy Oborny
- USD 500 Kansas City, Kansas — Donna Long, Erin (Ryan) Misiti
- USD 501 Topeka — Phillip Wrigley
National board certification is recognized nationwide as a model for identifying accomplished teaching practice. Teachers were notified in December if they achieved the certification they worked for during the last school year.
“This process of board certification is similar to how a doctor becomes certified in a special area,” said Alvin Peters, director of Emporia State University’s program which assists teachers working toward national certification. “This is voluntary — no state, school district, or program is demanding them to go through this process and each teacher can take from one to three years to complete the process.”
The program hosted at ESU, Great Plains Center for National Teacher Certification, has a 78 percent initial certification rate over the past 13 years. This is nearly twice the national initial certification rate of 40 percent.
With these new additions, Kansas now has a total of 449 national board certified teachers. To date, more than 122,000 teachers in all 50 states are NBCTs. Before certification, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, a valid state teaching license and three years’ experience in the classroom.
The process is often misunderstood to mean a teacher passed a test or was nominated for the award. Peters adds, “National Board certification is a different kind of honor. Teachers must submit extensive documentation of their instruction, including videos of their students at work in the classroom.”
More information about Kansas and National Board Certification can be found at www.nbpts.org/in-your-state/in-your-state/ks/.