Sixty MCPS Teachers Achieve National Board Certification

December 13, 2011

Sixty Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) educators achieved certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 2011. This brings the number of Board-certified teachers in MCPS to more than 600.

Montgomery County far surpasses all other districts in Maryland and ranks fifth among school districts in the nation in the number of new National Board Certified educators. MCPS now has 623 active National Board Certified Teachers.

On December 7, twelve of Montgomery County’s new National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) were invited to the White House for a forum on effective teaching. The MCPS educators were among 100 teachers from around the country who participated in the event with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes. The event focused on how to ensure high-quality instruction for all students and recognized the newly certified teachers.

Sunila Varghese, a science teacher at Robert Frost Middle School in Gaithersburg, was one of three featured speakers at the event and one of her students, Michelle Kellman, spoke about the strengths of Varghese’s teaching.

A webcast from the event is available at the following link (Ms. Varghese begins speaking at about 15:45 and her student follows).

Educators earn National Board Certification after completing a series of assessments that include teaching portfolios, student work samples, videotapes, and rigorous analyses of their classroom teaching and student learning. Candidates also complete a series of written exercises that probe the depth of their subject-matter knowledge and their understanding of how to teach those subjects to their students.

Full-time, non-administrative MCPS educators receive an additional $2,000 in their MCPS salary each year as long as they retain valid certification. The state also provides a stipend to Board Certified teachers that meet certain qualifications.

MCPS uses the rigorous standards NBPTS as part of the Professional Growth System for all teachers in the school system.

List of new National Board Certified Teachers in MCPS

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