Providing Ethical Support of National Board Certification

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Providing Ethical Support of National Board
Certification
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North Carolina Driven to Succeed

• Over 11,300 National Board Certified Teachers in
  North Carolina
• Many NC NBCTs as assessors
• Candidate support groups
• Peer pressure
• Technology listservs, web sites, email
• - salary stipends, bonuses, incentives

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Assessor Feedback Misperceptions

• Assessors are instructed to identify, record, and
  evaluate only the evidence provided by candidates
• Assessors do not look for what is wrong
• Missing evidence is not identified
• Providing suggestions for improvement or
  feedback implies that a template for success
  exists when actually there is an infinite number
  of ways to meet the performance standards

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Candidate Support Providers

• Organized or formal support from school districts
• Informal support from NBCTs
• Formal support from associations and institutes
  of higher education
• Presentations at education conferences
• Informal candidate support groups

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Candidate Support Providers

• Sharing portfolios suggests that there is a
  template for writing a winning entry there is
  not.
• Employing appropriate questioning techniques
  allows candidates to analyze and reflect
  instead of blanket statements of this is good
  or directives of you need to change that to
  this.

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Candidate Support Providers

• Scoring or making qualitative judgments on
  candidates entries assumes you are qualified
  or trained to make such judgments NBCTs are
  not always the best candidate support providers.
• While proven to be a valuable professional
  development experience, this is a high stakes
  assessment.

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Assessment Exercise Prompts

• Measurement of content as defined by standards
  that is NOT likely to be demonstrated in the
  portfolio
• Easier to recalleasier to share
• Discussing or disclosing assessment center
  prompts is inappropriate and a breach of ethics.

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Team Teaching Collaboration

• Collaboration is valued, but
• Different videotapes, separate and different
  analyses, and separate and different student work
  samples must be submitted by each candidate,
  regardless of teaching situation
• If identical work is submitted, both candidates
  will be disqualified

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Ethical or Unethical Support?

• Review the scenarios of candidate support
• Determine what would be appropriate, ethical
  support and what would be inappropriate,
  unethical support.
• How would you respond to candidates and / or
  NBCTs?

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NBPTS on Ethics

• Guidelines for ethical candidate support
• Printable copies of all policies and guidelines
• Certification Denial or Revocation Policy
• QA regarding the policy
• Collaboration guidelines
• Candidate agreements regarding ethics
• Retake instructions

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Certification Denial or Revocation Policy

• Noncompliance with assessment procedures,
  regulations or instructions
• Violation of confidentiality agreements
• Obtaining improper access to all or parts of the
  assessment prior to its administration
• Sharing, publishing, posting or otherwise
  reproducing secure assessment prompts
• Violation of collaboration guidelines

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Certification Denial or Revocation Policy

• Lists available remedies, including denial,
  revocation, prohibition from the program, and
  assessment of fees to cover damages and costs
• Describes release of violator(s) name(s) to
  media, public, licensing boards and employers

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Misconduct in North Carolina

• Investigations into misconduct
• Certifications denied
• Certifications revoked

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Resources and Information

• Know your resources
• NBPTS website www.nbpts.org
• Ethical support guidelines
• Know state policies
• Code of Ethics for North Carolina Educators
• Direct candidates to 800-22-TEACH

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Candidate Support Providers Strategies

• Honor confidentiality agreements
• Share only what can be publicly released
• Work together professionally
• Always direct candidates to the standards
• Demand honest and ethical behavior

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Reporting Misconduct to NBPTS

• Report breaches of security, misconduct and/or
  unethical practice by calling NBPTS at (800)
  779-3339 and selecting option 3.

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North Carolina National Board Certification
Contact Information

• Support and General Questions
• Program Coordinator, National Board Certification
  / 919.807.3358
• Funding Questions
• Jeanne Washburn, NC National Board Certification
  Program Assistant jwashbur_at_dpi.state.nc.us /
  919.807.3373