Overruns Spur Teacher Board To Alter Plans

By Ann Bradley

Faced with severe cost overruns in conducting its assessments, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has scaled back its time line for offering certification to accomplished teachers.

The organization has assembled a team of experts to offer suggestions on how to make the detailed evaluations of each applicant's work less expensive. The board also has canceled three of its seven contracts for developing assessments and will concentrate instead on retooling certificates now being offered.

The cost of evaluating the first crop of teachers was $4,000 per candidate, more than four times the $975 now being charged. That amount includes only the cost of operating the certification system, not the cost of...