Make Your Point- Heavy Mettle

If you're a Veteran Library Media Specialist and love your job, if you can't imagine holding any other position in your school and know that what you do truly makes a difference in your students' education, you're ready to consider National Board Certification. After years of trying to convince administrators and other teachers that the teaching role of the library media specialist is crucial to the school, this is a chance to include yourself among the accomplished teachers of this nation.

What's in it for you? Well, there's the money. In order to improve the education of students through recognizing and rewarding quality teaching, National Board Certification incentives have been enacted in 44 states and in approximately 275 local school districts, as of last August. In North Carolina, for instance, the state offers a grant for the application fee of $2,300, if the process is completed, and a 12-percent salary increase for the 10-year life of the certificate. On the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Web site (www.nbpts.org), you can find the information for your state and/or district. Yet, while it is heartening to see excellent teaching rewarded financially, if you're in it for the money, that's the wrong reason.

A better reason is to validate your position in the field of education. The recently published American Association of School Librarians' assessment rubric and other evaluative instruments can validate the effectiveness of a strong library media program. National Board Certification, however, validates the skill and effectiveness of the person at the head of a strong program, the library media specialist who is affecting student achievement in the school.

The best reason for seeking certification is that you will greatly improve your effectiveness as you reflect on your impact on your students, your school, and your community. The assessment involves a great deal of self-examination. How are you an accomplished teacher? How is your program administered to be effective for the students and school community? How are you making effective use of technology for your students? How are you a leader in your school and the profession? How can you show evidence that you meet the standards? You will answer the three basic questions of any discipline's National Board standards: What do accomplished teachers know? What do they do? How do they grow as professionals?

There is no one right answer to the above questions. Many candidates have called the certification process the best professional development they could ever have. It's an investment in yourself. It's through your self-reflection that you find your responses. Dr. Gail Dickinson of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro offered a workshop last summer to prepare library media specialists for the certification process. When we discussed preparing candidates, she quoted Kandra James, director of the National Alliance of Black School Educators National Board Certification Support Program. James says that while the National Board is not interested in "your adversities," the National Board is interested in "your successes in spite of your adversities."

How do you decide whether to become certified? Read the Library Media Standards online or order them from NBPTS ($15). Then, order or download its publication, Guide to National Board Certification . Check out what financial support is available from your school, state, or teachers' union. Find out about support groups (for example, online resources like Cynthia Wilson's support groups at www.geocities.com/educationplace/lmnbpts.htm) or college workshops in your area. And then, when you realize that you are an accomplished library media specialist, order "the box" of certification materials and get started on the process. The first certification materials will be sent out to library media specialist candidates this month with a due date of June 6, 2002.

As Doug Johnson, technology coordinator of Mankato, MN, schools, said to me last May, "At least they're finally recognizing that we are teachers!"