ECS Review Discounts Study Critical of Teaching Board

By Mary Ann Zehr

Based on a review by independent researchers, the Education Commission of the States is discounting the conclusions of a small study that showed teachers from Tennessee who received national board certification did not markedly affect their students' achievement.

"The study is fundamentally flawed," said Ted Sanders, the president of the Denver-based ECS, which commissioned the report. The study's methodology had so many problems and the number of participants in the study was so small that the findings are not valid, he contended.

The study in question, was conducted by John E. Stone, an education professor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, examined yearly test-score increases of Tennessee students in classrooms taught by 16 teachers who had received certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. It concludes that the gains of the students of the board-certified teachers didn't exceed those of students of other teachers. ( "Critical Study of NBPTS Spurs State Advisory Group to Act," ...