More NC Teachers Board Certified

We may not be hiring a lot of new teachers off the streets these days (despite our so-called teacher shortage), but many of the tenured ones that are in the classroom are becoming Board-certified...and apparently a lot of them are coming from within our state.

AP, via N&R:

North Carolina ranked second nationwide this year in the number of public school teachers gaining new national certification, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards said today.

The board said 1,453 teachers in the state were certified in 2008. North Carolina ranked behind Florida in numbers of certified teachers. Florida had 1,826 certified teachers.

Washington, South Carolina and Illinois rounded out the top five states.

"At a time when policymakers, educators and the public at large are looking for ways to improve education, a critical element begins with the quality of the teacher in the classroom," said Joseph A. Aguerrebere, president and chief executive officer of the board.

North Carolina leads the nation in the total number of teachers who been certified with 14,211, the board said. Certified teachers are 15 percent of the state's teacher population.

School systems in Wake County, Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, Guilford County, Forsyth County and Buncombe County were the top five in the state in the total number of certified teachers.

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Congrats to all of our newly-Board-certified teachers.

E.C. :)