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September 25, 2002
Dear Colleagues and Friends: Many states and local communities have given both special recognition and rewards to teachers holding certificates granted by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). They have chosen to take such actions despite the fact that we have yet to determine whether the skills and knowledge required of such teachers has any significant effect on student achievement. The assumption from the beginning has been that knowledge of excellent teaching practice demonstrated by individuals under rigorous standards cannot but help student learning. Nevertheless, many of us have been patiently waiting for decisive research evidence indicating significant gains in student learning attributable to NBPTS certification. A short time ago, a research project conducted at East Tennessee University received a good deal of attention because its reported results were sharply critical of the relative effectiveness of Tennessee teachers receiving financial awards in recognition of their certification by NBPTS. Given the potential significance of the study to teachers, policy makers and lay citizens, we immediately took action to support an independent review of the study and its findings by a highly qualified national panel of experts. The intent was to have ECS support the panel's independent inquiry and share its subsequent report with all of you. The panel, led by Susan Fuhrman, dean of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, had in its membership Dominic Brewer, director of education at the Rand; Robert Linn, professor of education at the University of Colorado at Boulder and co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing; and Ana Maria Villegas, professor of curriculum and teaching at Montclair State University. Click on the "Panel Report" link to the left to read the final report, summarized by the panel chairman. You will note that the panel concluded that the Tennessee study is scientifically inadequate and its conclusions cannot be considered valid. Therefore, no determination, pro or con, regarding the effectiveness of NBPTS certified teachers can be based on the research in question. There is also a link to Professor Stone's research and to a statement from NBPTS. Cordially, Ted Sanders
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