The Path to Pre-K Prestige

Earning a national teaching certificate is now the ultimate credential quest for a small but growing number of early-childhood educators.

By Linda Jacobson

Charlotte, N.C.

Margaret Brown is seeking national certification because she wants to take her preschool teaching skills to a higher level. Kristin Anderson secured the prestigious credential to help her prepare youngsters to meet increasing academic expectations of kindergarten. Whether Michelle Smith gets the certification or not, she is convinced that struggling through the yearlong process will make her a better prekindergarten teacher.

For all of them, national teacher certification is also a route to higher salaries.

Whatever their motivations, these teachers all have two things in common. First, they are among a small but growing corps of early-childhood educators across the country who have been awarded or are seeking certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Only about 300 teachers in the early-childhood field have been awarded the credential, compared with...