Eight WCPS educators earn board certification
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 4, 2015 1:46 PM
Wayne County Public Schools has eight new National Board Certified teachers and counselors, bringing the district total to 148.
The Board of Education recognized the latest employees with this distinction at its Monday night meeting.
National Board Certification is granted by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, considered the most accepted symbol of teaching excellence in the United States. Individuals seeking National Board Certification must hold a bachelor's degree, have completed three full years of teaching or counseling experience, and possess a valid state teaching or counseling license for that period of time.
Board member Pat Burden announced the recipients and explained the arduous process by which they earned the honor.
"Earning certification is a challenging and time-consuming process," she said.
"The assessment process for National Board Certification requires candidates to complete two major components -- a portfolio of classroom practice, including samples of student work and videotapes of teacher instruction, and an assessment of content knowledge administered at a computer-based testing center.
"It is estimated that the process will take the better part of a school year and involve a total of 200 to 400 hours of work outside of the classroom."
Recipients included Sandra Sasser, a guidance counselor at Goldsboro High School for the past five years; Amy Crawford, Title I teacher at Meadow Lane Elementary School for seven years; Kimberly Keel, third-grade teacher at Northeast Elementary for 10 of her 14 years in the district; Antoine Sharpe, also a third-grade teacher at Northeast for 10 years; Jennifer Tyndall, first-grade teacher at Northwest Elementary for nine years; Randi Stallard, who has spent one of her seven years in the district as first-grade teacher at Rosewood Elementary; Sara McLamb, English teacher at Rosewood High for the past six years; and Jesse Pittard Jr., social studies teacher at Wayne School of Engineering for three years.
Each was presented with a $500 check from the district.