NCCAT: Good afternoon and welcome to the Teacher Town Meeting: National Board Certification: Preparing for the Assessment Center.  I am Stephen Sorrell, a Fellow with NCCAT.  I will moderate today's discussion. Would everyone please tell us: Who you are, Your school, The area you in which you see certification or are already certified.

ISS: Paula Cress from Iredell-Statesville Schools, South Iredell High School. I am a business teacher seeking certification in Early Childhood and Vocational Education.

Glenn Gurley: I am Glenn Gurley in Gaston County and I am certified in science and math. I have a masters in Middle School.

Linda Iovacchini: After my work through the assessment process, I began a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. My dissertation involved NBPTS as professional development and through that work, I learned quite a bit about the process. I have been working with candidates through WRESA and NCCAT for the past three years.

NCCAT: Linda, how is preparing for the assessment different from preparing entries for the portfolio?

Linda Iovacchini: I would like to first put the NBPTS Assessment in perspective. NBPTS is a national assessment for accomplished teaching. Working through the assessment is a worthy professional development activity. Completing your work toward certification, may take more than one year. During the Assessment Center, do not put too much pressure on yourself. Fear will interfere with your ability to make the connections and share insights. With the portfolio, you have time to think through your work. At the assessment center, you must give much more spontaneous answers. For that reason, there are some ways you can prepare.

Linda Iovacchini: Teachers generally begin working through during the winter and continue to work through spring. Most certificate areas have a deadline for portfolios around the middle of April. There are general questions which are sent out from NBPTS which the teachers have in advance. It is on the basis of those questions that teachers prepare for their assessment center in the summer. 

Linda Iovacchini: I do have some specific suggestions for preparation for the Assessment Center.  When preparing school site entries you are working with your own students your own class setting with your won curriculum. During the assessment center, the you will be responding to scenarios that are given in advance, though the specifics are not known until you are actually in the test situation. For that reason, you should prepare broadly for the assessment center.

The Assessment Center Orientation Booklet, which has been mailed to you, has four questions for each certificate area (pp. 28-71). Included in each question are the NBPTS Standards that will be addressed during scoring. My suggestions for study are:

First, know your NBPTS Standards. For example, if Integrated Instruction is going to be assessed through a specific question at the Assessment Center, and that is an area where you feel you need improvement, you should think carefully about Integrated Instruction as it relates to that specific Assessment Center Question. When writing under the pressure of the limit of time, your weaker areas will be the areas that you will most likely neglect to address.

Second, understand the importance of national content standards such as those provided by the National Council for the Teachers of Math or the National Council of the Teachers of English. In North Carolina we focus on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study so often that it might be easy to forget national content standards. The content addressed at the Assessment Center is that content from the national content standards and not the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. A knowledge of the national content standards might give you insight into some of the specifics which will be addressed at the Assessment Center.

Third, gather information from a wide variety of sources. Talk to your colleagues, sit in on their classes as a student, discuss with them what they know about their areas of expertise. Talk to your principal, curriculum specialists, and university professors. Read curriculum guides, journal articles, and access Internet sites such as NC Learn. Use simulation - practice your ideas with your class.

Fourth, outline topics to discuss for each of your entries. The time you spend collecting information for the Assessment Center Activities will help you focus on relevant issues related to the NBPTS Standards.

NCCAT: How can I make best use of the CD that came with the Orientation Booklet?

Linda Iovacchini: Stephen, to make best use of the CD, you first must get it loaded and that is not easy. The CD provided in your Assessment Center Orientation Booklet does not have an automatic load. IBM users should click on the My Computer icon and then click on the NBPTS icon. At this point, the directions should be clear.

There are several advantages to having the software program in advance. You are able to practice using the arrow keys, the cut and paste procedures, and the testing tools. Pay special attention to the Reference and the Help tools. These may prove to be very helpful during your assessment. Also, you will find two exercises which you could use as practice for time. Look at the Reference Button. If you analyze the information in that part of the program, you will gain some insight in how your response will be scored.

Linda Iovacchini: There are seven general types of assessment center questions:

• Constructing Curriculum/Integrated Curriculum
• Analyzing Student Work Samples
• Content Knowledge
• Instructional Resources
• Developmental Inferences
• Professional Literature
• Using Assessment Data

Each certificate area has only four questions and the four questions in the Assessment Center Orientation Booklet are the four questions you will be given. However, there will be more to the question than what is provided as a general study question. When you get to the assessment other details will be provided. You will have 90 minutes to respond to each question.

General Guidelines

• Read the question thoroughly. You cannot get credit for questions you do not answer.
• Read the question thoroughly. Focus on major issues.
• Recall the NBPTS Standards to be addressed
• Frame your response from your expertise
• Tell why and explain how you know
• Watch your time

ISS: First, in completing entry #5, which category do I includes workshops and second - in completing the group video what are they looking for? Linda Iovacchini: ISS, in response to your question about entry #5, there is no set place to discuss workshops, etc. You must look at how you can best draw your conclusions about your work. Linda Iovacchini: ISS, study the questions at the end of each set of directions. It is on the basis of how you can most effectively demonstrate your accomplishment with the Standards and in response to those guiding questions that you can best answer your question about what to include.

ISS: Do they want to see you interacting with the students or leading a session with the students working independently.

Linda Iovacchini: ISS, in answer to your question about the group video, they will be looking at the ways you inspire learning. They are not assessing your students. Your video should show your students making connections and learning through your work as a teacher.

NCCAT: Linda,should I hand write or typewrite?

Linda Iovacchini: I have had many teachers concerned about the handwriting or typing options. Some people assess information holistically. If you use the typing program, you have a limited ability to do this, and therefore handwriting might be your preferred method of response. On the other hand, if you function more sequentially, you might prefer typing. There is no spell or grammar check either way.  If you plan to hand write, find a type of pen that feels comfortable and write a lot over the next few months.  You may hand write some exercises and type others. You may add handwritten diagrams and charts, etc. to a typed response, but you may not change procedures during a response.

Linda Iovacchini: Stephen, in response to your question about resources to help you prepare, gather information from a wide variety of sources. Talk to your colleagues, sit in on their classes as a student, discuss with them what they know about their areas of expertise. Talk to your principal, curriculum specialists, and university professors. Read curriculum guides, journal articles, and access Internet sites such as NC Learn. Use simulation - practice your ideas with your class. The more resources you tap, the richer your understanding will be.

Orange High School: Who will be reading the assessment center essays? How much expertise should I assume? Is the work addressed to another English teacher, to a professional in the field?

Wake County: I am a retaker, and I am trying to refrain from total bitterness, but I missed boards by 1/3 of a point on one assessment exercise, (passed the other three with strong scores!) on a machine that froze up three times within an hour, down at one point for nearly 25 minutes. The loss of concentration and the nervous stress, while not unlike real teaching, nonetheless gave me a less than optimum and certainly not equitable testing situation. National Board ( through Paula Delate) has refused to grant a free retake, so I am paying $275 to retake for 1/3 of a point.

Fine. What I would like to know is what actions are we justified in taking if our workstation is disrupted by faulty equipment? What should I have done that day in order to have had the same quality time on the station that other test-takers had? Can we decline to return to a faulty terminal? IF the equipment seizes up, do we have just cause to request another testing time and another terminal?

I don't know the percentage, but there are enough instances of this occurrence that candidates might benefit from a review of this question...particularly since NBPTS refuses to be responsible for the equipment or offer equity after the fact.

Orange High School: They should do it if the equipment freezes just one time! There is no excuse for faulty equipment. They should do this the way the GRE is now...let the teacher rewrite if the teacher is not satisfied with the results, right then and there.

Linda Iovacchini: Wake County, I am sorry to hear your story. There are other horror stories that I have heard, too. This is a new process of evaluation based real life and simulated work activities. There will be problems with such a massive change.  I have never had that question posed to me, and I am sorry that I do not have an answer. Perhaps, hand writing has less possible interruptions to the process of responding.

Glenn Gurley: Thanks Linda for the response... the teacher from Wake County could not attend today but wanted me to submit her comments/questions.

ISS: This is Lisa, from Iredell County... My question is during my video you are not able to hear all of the students responses and should the camera be on the tripod the entire time or Should you get as many individual students as possible?  Does the video need to be from the beginning of a lesson to the end? Linda Iovacchini: Lisa, the video is a way for you to provide evidence that you meet the standards addressed in the entry. The assessor will be evaluating your teaching. If some of the students are not heard, I do not think that will greatly affect your score. If you think something that is important to your work is not heard, add that in your narrative.

NCCAT: Back to resources to help candidates prepare. here are some that might help:

• LEARN NC - www.learnnc.org
• The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - www.nctm.org
• The National Council of Teachers of English - www.ncte.org
• National Council of Science Teachers - http://www.nsta.org/
• National Council for the Social Studies - http://www.ncss.org/
• Music Educators National Conference - http://www.menc.org/index2.html
• Council for Exceptional Children - http://www.cec.sped.org/index.html

Linda Iovacchini: Stephen, thanks for providing the sites for the each of the national content standards. Because the Standard Course of Study is stressed so in NC, often teachers neglect to review the national content standards. A review of the national content standards for each of the disciplines will be valuable as you prepare for the Assessment Center.

NCCAT: If there are curriculum areas not listed here, the easiest way to find them is to go to LEARN NC ( www.learnnc.org ) and look at their links library.

Linda Iovacchini: In addition, there is a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the NBPTS.org website that also has a wealth of information about the process.

ISS: Please give advice about how to label each page of your entry. In the entry they ask you to response to three categories.  Do I put Accomplishment #1: and then the category I am describing or do I just label the accomplishment with no other identifying information?

Linda Iovacchini: ISS, to "clearly label" is an effort to make sure the assessors know what you want them to be reading and for what purpose. You would not want to put the assessor into a confused state for any reason. Clearly label as you see fit.

Glenn Gurley: How can a teacher take advantage of these sessions at NCCAT?

NCCAT: Glenn, teachers can contact Margaret-Rose Simon Hall at NCCAT for details (800) 922-0482.

NCCAT: Linda, do you have any other tips for teachers as they prepare for the assessment center?

Glenn Gurley: Hello East Clayton... do you have questions about the National Board Assessment Center?

Linda Iovacchini: I know we have only a few minutes and you are still welcome to ask further questions. But in closing I would like to add a final word. By all means, prepare. But the night before, spend the evening with family or friends, laugh often, and go to bed early. Think of the Assessment Center activities as worthy challenges and give the activities your best effort.

East Clayton: Hello Glenn, this is Sherri Godwin. I do have a question. When will the National Board Certification for Media be available?

Linda Iovacchini: I just received word for NBPTS that they are working on the development of the Counseling, so they have moved along quickly. I do not know when or if Media will be out.

Linda Iovacchini: I do have one final tip. To achieve a national certification, you must demonstrate a broad perspective on your work. Work with a colleague on your Portfolio entries and also when you study for your Assessment Center activities. Having access to other perspectives is essential.

Glenn Gurley: There is another Town Meeting from NCCAT about National Board Certification. You may wish to read the transcript... http://www.teachers-connect.net/town/011300t.htm

Linda Iovacchini: Thank you for this opportunity. Technology does open possibilities.

NCCAT: On behalf of NCCAT and Teachers-Connect, I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Linda for sharing her knowledge and experience with us today. I thank each of our candidates for taking time from your day to participate. I hope this session has been helpful and wish all the best as you complete the National Board Certification process.

Glenn Gurley: I would like to thank Linda for taking the hour to be with us and to answer our questions. I will work on these transcripts tonight and will try to have them posted on Friday or Monday. You may wish to print a copy for reference.

NCCAT: NCCAT is in the process of planning a series of teacher Town Meetings for National Board candidates...stay tuned to the teachers-connect web site www.teachers-connect.net  for details.

Glenn Gurley: The URL will be - http://www.teachers-connect.net/town/032300t.htm

NCCAT: Linda, thanks a WHOLE LOT...it's been an interesting hour!!

Linda Iovacchini: My pleasure.