Teachers play a crucial role in ensuring that learners transform into useful individuals in society. However, the process is usually interrupted when there is a deficiency in guidelines, and resources that will ensure the teachers deliver their best to the students. The National Board for Professional Teaching (NBPT) standards comes in to ensure that the teachers who put in effort in enhancing student performance get rewarded (Belson & Husted, 2015). The standard accomplishes this expectation by ensuring that the teachers have specific expectations to meet. The fifth standard in the NBPT ensures that teachers put their abilities, skills, knowledge, and commitments to the best use by collaborating well with several segments in and out of the school environment.
Elements of the NBPT Standard 5
NBPT has five main standards. The central component of Proposition 5 is that teachers are members of a learning community. The standard requires that a teacher works together with colleagues to improve students learning. Consequently, they share responsibilities with colleagues and administrators to achieve productive learning for students (Belson & Husted, 2015). They do so by supporting comprehensive education and creation of favorable conditions for learners with various needs to thrive. Further, the measure ensures it promotes cooperation among colleagues, counselors and other stakeholders who offer quality services to enhance learning (Swanson, Earl Rinehart, & Mills, 2018). A case in point will be the coordination among teachers to reinforce their delivery strategies by observing and learning new practices from other teachers as they teach.
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The second and third descriptor of the standard is working with other stakeholders and evaluating the progress of the school respectively. These efforts will lead to a fruitful learning environment as the teacher will seek inputs from policymakers who may not be confined within the school setting (Belson & Husted, 2015). In the process, teachers will understand their mandates as stipulate in the government and state rules and regulations. Such knowledge will equip teachers as essential agents for assessing the institution’s progress on various fronts. For instance, they will analyze the curricular thoroughly, points out less critical aspects, identify priorities and communicate possible changes to the school administration (DeLuca, LaPointe-McEwan, & Luhanga, 2016). Also, they coordinate with other stakeholders to formulate instructional programs that enhance the smooth learning process. Therefore, teachers collaborate with various stakeholders in steering structures and schedules that require implementation.
The fourth aspect of standard 5 is the need for teachers to establish a close and beneficial relationship with communities and businesses. Any community surrounding an education institution is viewed as a resourceful entity from which teachers can draw their materials (Wall & Hall, 2016). They utilize opportunities such as collecting oral history, visiting archives, and exploring career guidance which they use as content in their lessons (Belson & Husted, 2015). Additionally, the study of culture in the community and its influence on the students helps teachers to encourage learners to appreciate cultural diversity. An appreciation of multicultural diversity creates a favorable learning environment as students will be more tolerant of each other. One thing the community and businesses share is their ability to support the school with financial and material support thus boosting the image of the school.
Teachers should learn how to engage parents in school work. In this light, they should often communicate with the students’ parents informing them about their children’s progress and challenges in school (Belson & Husted, 2015). They also need to seek information from the parents about their children and together discuss the best strategies to use for progressive improvements of each learner. Teachers can encourage parents to take part in their children’s education by occasionally inviting them to specific school programs.
Importance of NBPTS standard 5 in Portfolio assessment and Classroom Learning
The effect of the NBPT standards on the portfolio of a teacher and classroom learning is determined by a comprehensive mechanism which tests all the five elements uniformly. The instrument offers assessment in 25 areas in the education field whereby candidates who excel in them get certifications (Belson & Husted, 2015). The NBPTS has so far certified 3% if the teachers in America which give them a higher advantage over their counterparts who did not take the voluntary assessment.
The NBPTS certification leads to assessment in four key areas that are crucial in helping teachers identify their areas of strength and weaknesses. Those who have worked hard to improve their knowledge skills and competencies end up getting the prestigious certification which opens their future career endeavors (Belson & Husted, 2015). The first component entails a written assessment to test the teachers’ knowledge. The second aspect of the assessment focuses on reflections on students’ work samples while the third component tests on the use of technology and other teaching practices. The final area of focus is the questioning of the educational achievement the teacher has had in the course of their career. In this manner, the NBPTS ensures that the teacher is assessed holistically.
The means that the NBPTS uses to gauge a teacher’s portfolio ensures that they demonstrate the capability to be positive elements in the transformation of the learners’ lives. In this manner, the teacher will be expected to take six computer-based tests, submit a written commentary, present videos of their class session and give explanations on the various issues that arise from their student’s class work (Belson & Husted, 2015). This high-level scrutiny ensures that a teacher that goes through the process successfully can be entirely entrusted with the well-being of learners in a learning institution. Similarly, those who may fail the evaluation will gain a wealth of experience that will help them improve their instruction methodologies.
The NBPTS affects classroom instruction directly as it makes the teacher gain meaningful insight into how best to deliver content to the learners. The fact that the certification takes up to two years to complete implies that they will get continuous guidance on the best way to teach (Swanson, Earl Rinehart, & Mills, 2018). Additionally, the teacher will be required to renew the certification every ten years. When the period elapses, they will be required to submit their professional growth profile. Such a requirement will ensure that a teacher finds novel ways of delivering the content and takes the learners along to ensure that he provides positive results.
The manifestation of Standard 5 descriptors in an ideal classroom
Collaboration with others is the first descriptor of the NBPT standard 5 components. The condition is healthy for achieving an exemplary classroom situation as a cordial relationship with colleagues, and the administration leads to the formation of favorable school culture (Swanson, Earl Rinehart, & Mills, 2018). When the whole school is in one accord under one culture, the teachers will receive the same level of attention and seriousness from the learners during classroom instruction. The process makes it easy to set a conducive environment for every teacher to perform well.
The second descriptor entails building partnerships with the community and specific groups such as businesses. The connections are vital for classroom performance as they open the means to get community support in terms of funding and motivation of the students (DeLuca, LaPointe-McEwan, & Luhanga, 2016). The teachers will be instrumental in making the community understand the specific challenges that they are facing and offer them the suggestions of how best to help. Consequently, the support from community and businesses will lead to more equipped classrooms thus facilitating the delivery of content.
The third descriptor in the NBPT standard 5 entails working with other professionals to ensure the adoption of workable instructional policies and benefit from ideal curriculum development and staff development. The prior mentioned aspects will lead to the direct improvement in the competency of the teacher thus making him a better person at his or her work (Wall & Hall, 2016). Therefore, the teacher will be more aware of the various factors that facilitate or impede the uptake of knowledge by the learners.
It is also crucial that educators have the means to evaluate school progress and make a sound decision in resource allocation to support learning. This standard is vital in ensuring an enabling classroom environment in various ways (Swanson, Earl Rinehart, & Mills, 2018). First, the teachers will be instrumental in ensuring that whatever support they get from the government and the community goes to programs that will support the fluid passage of content to the learners. Secondly, the teachers will play a significant role in advising policymakers in the field on the areas that need to be prioritized. Therefore, there will be more furnished classrooms and student and teacher programs that support efficiency in learning.
The parents will not be left out in the bid to make learning institutions more productive. Involving the parents makes it easy for teachers to solve issues related to the domestic situations of the learners (Wall & Hall, 2016). Collaboration with the parents also helps to strengthen the culture set at school as they will be vital in reminding the learners on acceptable behavior and unacceptable ones. Parents will also offer great insight into understanding the individual characteristics of the learner so that the teachers tailor their instructional methods to attend to the various learner needs.
Conclusion
The NBPT standard 5 offers various expectations that will push the teacher to mobilize resources around the school and in the environment to support the students’ achievement. A meaningful connection between the teacher and the colleagues, the administration, the community, and other professionals sets him or her at a vantage position to offer the learners guidance that will be useful beyond the school setting. Such a teacher possesses control over his environment and the situations therein attracting, retaining, and strengthening the various talents among students in their classrooms.
References
Belson, S. I., & Husted, T. A. (2015). Impact of National Board for the Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification on student achievement. education policy analysis archives , 23 , 91. https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/2074
DeLuca, C., LaPointe-McEwan, D., & Luhanga, U. (2016). Teacher assessment literacy: A review of international standards and measures. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability , 28 (3), 251-272. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11092-015-9233-6
Swanson, C., Earl Rinehart, K., & Mills, J. (2018). Focusing on teachers as learners in professional learning communities. Teachers and Curriculum , 18 (1), 1-5. http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10292/11747/Focusing%20on%20teachers%20as%20learners%20in%20professional%20learning%20communities.pdf?sequence=2
Wall, K., & Hall, E. (2016). Teachers as metacognitive role models. European Journal of Teacher Education , 39 (4), 403-418. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02619768.2016.1212834
