Last month, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was pressured into releasing an unflattering study by Tennessee value-added guru William Sanders, in which he concluded that teachers with the prestigious certification aren't any more likely to add value to the classroom than teachers without it. We were quite surprised, then, to find that there is another study out that makes the same basic point but in a more conclusive fashion. Though the study was officially released three weeks ago, it somehow slipped under the radar screen. Except for some alert reporter at the Hampton Roads Daily Press, nary a mention of it can be found anywhere.
This study, led by two researchers from the College of William and Mary, evaluates 5th grade teachers in three North Carolina school districts. It strikes at the heart of the organization by not just looking at student test scores--which are often dismissed for being an inadequate gauge of teachers' skills--but by conducting a seemingly thorough assessment of each teacher.
The actual findings could not be much worse. The researchers examined a host of variables, including the teachers' planning and assessment practices, and rated the quality and rigor of their typical assignments. The teachers also completed a "beliefs" survey, and were observed by multiple persons in the classroom.
In spite of the wealth of data, the study turned up only two variables that distinguished the Board-certified teachers from their control group, which included two kinds of teachers: a larger group selected for consistently producing strong gains on student test scores and a smaller handful of teachers with a low-achieving track record.
The National Board teachers were far more likely to keep taking courses after getting their Master's degrees (which could be taken as a positive or a negative), and they were more likely to assign cognitively challenging reading material. On all other variables, the news was disappointing. Classroom observers discerned no differences in the level of questions asked of students by Board teachers, in the amount of disruptive behavior manifested by their students, or in how engaged their students were. In fact, it was the non-Board teachers selected for producing good test scores who proved consistently better at classroom management, organization, positive relationships, and encouragement of responsibility.
As for test scores, while there are fewer Board-certified teachers at the bottom of the distribution, there are still plenty of them there. One out of five of the Board teachers were in the bottom quartile of classroom performance in math and reading.
The NPBTS website has yet to post the paper and the organization has made no public comment.