Earning National Board Teacher Certification can provide educators with a way to increase their income and enhance their professional credentials. However, the National Board Certification process is expensive, challenging, and time consuming. Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process for educators.

What is National Board Teacher Certification?

As teachers, many of us earn our initial professional educator certificate by completing a college’s or university’s teacher education program and then obtaining certification through our state’s department of education. Others of us may have completed an undergraduate program that did not include certification and then enrolled in an alternative certification program. After earning our initial certification, we may decide to earn an advanced degree, such as a Master’s, Ed.S., or Ph.D.

National Board Teacher Certification, however, is a different type of professional credential that is completely separate from state licensure. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that was founded in 1987. NBPTS offers teachers the opportunity to complete a voluntary assessment, known as National Board Certification, based on the NBPTS standards.

Educators who complete the assessment requirements and earn a passing score earn the distinction of National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT).

The National Board Standards are based on the following five core propositions:

• Proposition One: Teachers are committed to students and their learning

• Proposition Two: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students

• Proposition Three: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning

• Proposition Four: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience

• Proposition Five: Teachers are members of learning communities

What do you have to do to become a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT)?

The NBPTS offers 25 different types of certification covering 16 different content-area fields and 4 different student age ranges. In all 25 certificate areas, candidates for National Board Certification must complete the 4 components. Three of the components are online portfolio entries that are submitted online. The fourth component is a computer-based assessment, which must be completed at a testing center.

The Guide to National Board Certification provides a detailed description of all four of the required components.

How much does the initial National Board Teacher Certification process cost?

Each of the 4 components costs $475, bringing the total cost of completing the National Board Certification process to $1,900. Candidates can pay for and submit each component separately. Also, the National Board offers a payment plan option to pay for certification fees.

Many states offer fee support to candidates who wish to pursue National Board Certification. This fee support covers part or all of the $1,900 cost of certification. Clicking on your state in this interactive map will show you if your state offers fee and candidate support as well as provide information about any financial incentives, recognition, educational credits, and leadership opportunities your state offers.

How long does it take to become a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT)?

Candidates have several options for completing National Board Certification. Completing the process can take anywhere from 1 to 5 years, depending on the approach a candidate takes. Pages 9 and 10 of the Guide to National Board Certification provide an overview of important dates and deadlines.

How long does National Board Certification last?

National Board Certification lasts for 5 years.

The length of time that National Board Certification lasts has changed. When I first earned National Board Certification in 2001, certification lasted for 10 years. Toward the end of that ten-year period, the National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) could complete a renewal portfolio that would extend their certification for another 10 years. For example, I earned my initial National Board Certification in 2001 and renewed it in 2011. I did not renew my certification in 2021, so it has now expired.

However, the National Board Certification renewal process and timeline has changed. Now, the renewal portfolio is referred to as Maintenance of Certification (MOC), and it has to be completed every 5 years rather than every 10 years. Teachers whose National Board Certification expires in 2021 or later will need to renew their certificate every 5 years by completing the MOC process.

This page on the National Board’s website provides a detailed explanation of the MOC process.

How much does the National Board Certification Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process cost?

The cost for the Maintenance of Certification is $495, plus a $75 registration fee, which brings the total renewal cost to $570. Although many states offer fee support to candidates pursuing their initial certification, most states will not pay any of the renewal fee.

This page on the National Board’s website explains the costs of the MOC process.

So what’s not to like about NBPTS certification?

Even though many NBCTs enjoy the professional growth resulting from the certification process as well as salary bonuses, the NBPTS program and process has its share of critics.

Critiques of the NBPTS program

Math teacher Michael Pershan’s blog article describes his experiences as he pursued and received National Board Certification in Mathematics for Adolescence and Young Adulthood. I agree completely with the points Pershan makes about parts of the National Board process being confusing as well as the feedback candidates receive being somewhat vague.

A Reddit thread begun by gman4734 titled “The National Board Certification is the epitome of inequity” also mentions the lack of helpful helpful feedback that National Board provides. Additionally, this Reddit user makes the valid point that the National Board Certification process “test[s] your money, free time, writing ability, and perseverance” more than it tests teaching ability.

Education professor M.O. Thirunarayanan levies a scathing commentary in the article “National Board Certification for Teachers: A Billion Dollar Hoax” that appears in Teachers College Record. Thirunarayanan criticizes the National Board’s “low content standards” and states that NBCTs “do not deserve the humongous pay raises and other incentives that have been lavished on them.”

Finally, in “The Whiteboard Jungle: The expected prestige of National Board Certification hasn’t paid off” NBCT Brian Crosby discusses shortcomings of the NBPTS’s goals as well as his experiences as a NBCT.

Crosby’s observations mirror my own experiences as a NBCT in that earning the certification did not open up any new and exciting professional opportunities for me, either paid or unpaid. It is possible that my experience might have been different if I had not already had a Ph.D. when I became a NBCT.

Should educators consider pursuing National Board Certification?

Here are my recommendations:

Suggestions for investing a NBPTS salary bonus

If you decide to complete the NBPTS certification process and are successful in earning your certification and a salary bonus, you will have some extra income at your disposal. Because this additional income will be money you are not accustomed to having, using it to fund a retirement account would be a worthwhile use for it.

Invest your bonus into a tax-sheltered retirement account

I never spent a penny of the nineteen annual $5,000 bonus checks I received in the years from 2001 to 2019. Instead, I invested every bit of every bonus check as a pre-tax contribution to my employer-sponsored 457 account, which enabled me to increase my long-term retirement savings and avoid increasing my taxable income.

If I had spent my annual National Board bonuses, each $5,000 bonus check would have been around $3,500 after taxes were deducted. Plus, the $3,500 would have been added to my taxable income, which could have pushed me into a higher income tax bracket.

On the other hand, contributing every bonus check to a 457 account enabled me to postpone taxes and put $95,000 to work in my retirement account.

If you become a NBCT and receive a salary bonus, I recommend that you invest your bonus as well. Getting time on your side through saving and investing is the key to long-term financial security!

Know your Federal Income Tax Bracket

If you don’t know your Federal Income Tax bracket and want to find out what it is, this Forbes.com article explains tax brackets in an easy to understand way and provides current tax brackets.

Knowing your Federal Income Tax Bracket will let you know how investing your bonus money as pre-tax income versus taking it as taxable income will affect your annual tax penalty.

Insider tips for pursuing National Board Certification

If you decide to pursue National Board Certification, networking with other candidates pursuing certification or people who have already earned their certification will provide you with a support network throughout every stage of the certification process.

I earned my initial certification in Adolescence and Young Adulthood, English Language Arts, in 2001, long before Zoom or any of the other collaborative tech tools that are now part of everyday life.

However, another teacher at my school had earned her certification the year before, so I had someone who could answer various questions that came up along the way. This was very helpful.

Dr. Louel Gibbons with Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman at the April 2002 reception honoring Alabama’s NBCTs.

Find support through professional networking

In today’s world, NBCT candidates have numerous options for finding networking and peer support resources. Options for finding networking resources include in-service centers at colleges and universities, professional organizations such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), as well as a wide variety of resources linked on the NBPTS "Homeroom" support page.

Next steps for you to take

Ask yourself these questions to determine if pursuing National Board Certification might be a good option for you:

• How might undertaking this project add to the responsibilities and stress I already have in my life?

• Is it possible for me to use the National Board Certification process to help me to achieve other professional goals, such as working toward an advanced degree?

• Will the benefits of earning National Board Certification outweigh the opportunity costs of going through the certification process? 

• What will I do if I don’t certify on my first attempt? (This is an especially important question to consider if you are paying for the certification process yourself and have limited funds or if you are getting fee support that includes conditions regarding successful certification.)

• At this point in my life, do I have the time and patience to take on this project?

Conclusion

I would have renewed my National Board Teacher Certification if COVID hadn't changed the end of the 2019-2020 school year in ways none of us could have dreamed possible.

In my rush to clean out my classroom, finish up the school year, and submit all of my retirement paperwork, I deleted the videos I had made and the writing I had completed. At the time, NBCT renewal was the least of my concerns.

Other than removing the “NBCT” tag from the signature block on my professional email account, I have not been affected by the loss of my NBCT credential.

Everyone’s situation is different, so you are the only person who really knows whether pursuing National Board Certification would be the right option for you.