National Board Certification has virtually no correlation to student achievement, according to a study examining student and teacher records in North Carolina, the state with the most board-certified teachers. The study, completed more than a year ago, found basically no difference in the achievement levels of students whose teachers earned certification, 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.
Although the national board is not under legal obligation to make its commissioned studies publicly available, it has generally done so. In this case, the board did not provide any public information about the report until earlier this month and national-board officials say they do not intend to release the full study.
Does the withholding of the full study put the national board on shaky ground? Has the board already acted in a questionable way by failing to publicize the study in a timely manner? Or are organizations like the board justified in not releasing research that they commissioned?
Update: Officials of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards decided to post the full findings of this report. For more about this decision and the study itself read, “Under Pressure, NBPTS Releases Full Study,” (March 24, 2006).
