Improving learning in the lowest performing schools is an endeavor that is at once extremely challenging, complicated and essential. Understanding the conditions under which instructional practice improves in our nation’s lowest performing schools is critical. The opportunity to examine whole school professional development programs that were inspired by and connected to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification process offers an opportunity to examine whether or not the National Board (NB) certification process can lead to improved instructional practice school-wide.

This principal interview study—conducted in 10 predominately low-performing schools with high proportions of high-need students—indicates that the use of the NB certification process, as implemented by these principals, appears to have had a significant impact on the teaching community and the manner in which teaching occurs in these schools.

The study, entitled "Developing effective communities of practice using the National Board Certification process," was conducted by Sandy Dean and Ann Jaquith at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) at the Graduate School of Education.

This report documents the findings from 10 schools located in eight different states that pursued NB certification with their teaching staff during 2010–2012.

The study offers insights into the conditions under which the NB certification process can become a mechanism for building a professional community where together teachers learn how to improve instruction to better serve the strengths, interests, and needs of their students. It describes what happened in schools—particularly schools that were low-performing and served high-need populations of students—when the principal involved the teaching staff in pursuing National Board certification as an instructional improvement strategy.

For more information, please visit SCOPE by clicking here.