Consider True Value Of Teaching Credential Before Hiring, Hiking Pay

Participation in a rigorous certification process produces a more highly qualified teacher, right? Some say, "Maybe not."

During the last few years there has been a sharp growth in the number of teachers who have tackled the demanding National Board For Professional Teaching Standards certification process, says an August Education Week article. But the group's success has raised concerns about the credential's future value -- and how to pay for promised salary incentives as the board-certified teaching pool grows.

By the numbers: Sixty thousand teachers will have won this credential by year's end, and if the current trend continues, about 2 percent of the nation's teachers will hold the credential by 2008, National Board officials told Education Week. The figures have been spurred by rewards for the credential from more than 30 states and scores of districts, according to the article.

More qualified? One question is whether the extensive assessment changes a teacher's practice for the better over the long haul. In a 2004 paper, Dan D. Goldhaber, a research professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, reported that while North Carolina teachers who receive national certification are more effective than other teachers in the first year after certification, the effect wanes thereafter.

Still hope: There is other research evidence that the credential signals effectiveness, especially when it comes to educating poor and minority children in the lower grades, according to the Education Week article.