National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in the United States, dedicated to promoting excellence in education. Founded in 1987, the board improves teaching and student learning by enhancing overall educator effectiveness and recognizing and rewarding highly accomplished educators who meet high and rigorous standards. It develops and maintains advanced standards for educators and offers a national, voluntary assessment, National Board Certification, based on the NBPTS Standards. As of December 2010^[update], more than 91,000 educators have become National Board Certified Teachers in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Arlington, Va.

The mission of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by

The board was formed in response to a 1986 report issued by the Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, a group funded by the Carnegie Forum on Education, of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The report, entitled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, called for the creation of a board to “define what teachers should know and be able to do” and to “support the creation of a rigorous, valid assessment to see that certified teachers do meet these standards.” The founding president of NBPTS was James A. Kelly, and the original chair of the board of directors was the Honorable James B. Hunt Jr., former governor of North Carolina.

NBPTS standards are based on "Five Core Propositions" — the foundation of what all accomplished teachers should know and be able to do — and provide a reference that helps educators link teaching standards to teaching practice. The board publishes standards of “accomplished teaching” for 25 subject areas and developmental levels for pre-K through 12th grade. These standards were developed and validated by representative councils of master teachers, disciplinary organizations and other education experts.

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