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Cape Hatteras elementary teacher gets national board certification
 Shannon
Sommers, a first-grade teacher at Cape Hatteras Elementary School, was
one of six Dare County teachers who received certification last month
from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
National board certification is a voluntary assessment program designed to recognize and reward great teachers and make them better. In addition to Sommers, other Dare teachers recognized include Linda Jernigan and Maureen King, Kitty Hawk Elementary School; Jessica Loose and Deanna Thornley, Manteo Elementary School, and Mandy McBride, First Flight High School. This brings Dare County Schools’ total to 50 board certified teachers, 11 percent of the teaching staff. National board certification, the highest credential in the teaching profession, requires an extensive series of performance-based assessments, including teaching portfolios, student work samples, videotapes, and thorough analyses of the candidates' classroom teaching and student learning. Additionally, teachers are assessed on their knowledge of the subjects they teach, as well as their understanding of how to teach those subjects to their students. In this voluntary assessment program through NBPTS, certification typically takes one to three years to complete. While state licensing systems set basic requirements to teach in each state, national board certified teachers are recognized for successfully demonstrating advanced teaching knowledge, skills, and practices. North Carolina remains the national leader in the number of teachers who have earned certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Nearly 15 percent of North Carolina's teachers - 12,770 - are now board certified. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 700 local school districts recognize national board certification as a mark of excellence. Most provide incentives to keep these accomplished educators in the classroom. North Carolina supports teachers' efforts to achieve national board certification by: • Payment up front of the $2,500 assessment fee. (Teachers are obligated to teach in the state the following year whether or not they achieve certification.) • Three paid release days from normal teacher responsibilities to develop their portfolios. • A 12 percent salary supplement to the teachers’ regular salary, good for the 10-year life of the certification. • 15 continuing education units (CEUs) awarded to the individual for completing the National Board Certification process. • Also, the State Board of Education awards a North Carolina teaching license to out-of-state teachers who possess national board certification. Locally, in Dare County, teachers seeking board certification are supported in two big ways. Teachers pursuing this professional milestone are provided system support in their endeavor, facilitated by Diane Childress, an NBCT since 2000. "If a candidate doesn't earn certification the first year, and about 55 percent don't, he/she can become an advanced candidate by 'banking' the points from the first try and choosing certain entries to do again," explained Childress, who teaches third grade at Kitty Hawk Elementary School. "There is much research out there indicating that students of NBCTs receive a better education. I believe this is true, mainly due to the fact that most NBCTs are already really good teachers, and by completing the process, they are more aware of the importance of reflection and have a commitment of being, and modeling, a life-long learner." The second leg of support comes from the Dare Education Foundation. DEF encourages teachers having achieved or seeking board certification with an annual dinner in their honor, reimburses new candidates for their initial registration fee, and pays $250 toward NBCT renewal fees through its Teacher Academy initiative. Cape Hatteras Elementary School’s Shannon Sommers achieved her board certification in one year. “I was very surprised to have received this certification in one year,” she says, “because it was a grueling process that can take up to three years. I would not have been able to receive it without support from my colleagues and friends.” Sommers was a kindergarten teacher during the year she worked on her certification. She’s been at CHES for her entire six-year teaching career. “I was lucky enough to be in this school when the doors of the new building opened,” she says. She left her native New Jersey for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 1993. After she received a bachelor’s degree in social work, she took a few years off to surf in Central America and waitress in Rodanthe. She then returned to UNCW for her teaching certification and got a master’s degree in elementary education from Eastern Carolina University. “I sought out this (national board) certification quite honestly for the pay raise,” she says. “While going through the process, I did learn a great deal about my teaching style and how it affects children.” If you have no children in her class but Sommers looks familiar to you, it may be because, like so many other Hatteras Island teachers, she works two jobs to afford to live here. She’s a waitress at the Sandbar and Grille in Buxton. In his announcement on Dec. 4, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley congratulated that state's newest NBCTs. "We are proud that more than one-fifth of the nation's 64,000 national board certified teachers work in North Carolina classrooms," Easley said. "Our state supports and applauds these educators who are crucial to our efforts to prepare students for college, a career and success in the 21st century." A complete listing of Dare County Schools' national board certified teachers is posted in the "staff info" section of the DCS website, http://www.dare.k12.nc.us. 
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