Four Vancouver Public Schools teachers earned National Board Certification in 2014, demonstrating the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare students for 21st-century careers. This year’s class includes (pictured above from left) Katie Nedved, Vancouver Flex Academy and Vancouver iTech Preparatory, certified in early childhood through young adulthood/library media; Matt Rose, Hazel Dell Elementary School, middle childhood/generalist; Mandy Lions, Hudson’s Bay High School, adolescence and young adulthood/math; and Sam Barnhart, Discovery Middle School, early adolescence/math.
The district now has 92 Nationally Board Certified teachers. Forty-eight percent work in the highest-needs schools.
Certification, the education profession’s highest mark of accomplishment, requires a rigorous, performance-based, peer-review process that takes 200 to 400 hours of work.