The National-Certification Effect

National Board Certification has virtually no correlation to student achievement, according to a recent study examining student and teacher records in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Wake County school districts in North Carolina. The study found basically no difference in the achievement levels of students whose teachers earned the prestigious NBPTS credential, those who tried but failed to earn it, those who never tried to get the certification, or those who earned it after the student test-score data was collected.

What's your view? Is certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards a good indicator of a teacher's effectiveness? Is the process worth it for schools and educators? What qualities do effective teachers share?