Money and Motivation--and Teachers
Congratulations to the 6000-plus teachers who achieved National Board Certification recently. In this Era of Bad Feelings about teacher effectiveness, National Board-Certified teachers are the real deal. A significant slice of them will receive some kind of annual bonus, from a modest $1K to a percentage salary increase, for their recognition as exemplary practitioners--and I say bully for them. They deserve it for demonstrating, via the best available standards-based measure, their commitment to student learning and a willingness to critically examine and fine-tune their own practice.
Full disclosure: I am a National Board Certified Teacher. Several years ago, I was discussing teacher compensation with a colleague from North Carolina, also an NBCT. I paid my own registration fees and pursued National Board Certification even though neither my state nor district offered a salary incentive--but NC paid her
