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Presentation by Stella Farris, Austin ISD

National Board certification attests to the fact that a librarian has been judged by a peer group as one who is accomplished in the field. It gives credibility to a librarian as a professional and leads to leadership opportunities. More importantly, librarians who are certified by the National Board have a better understanding of their roles and make a bigger impact on student achievement.

The National Board standards for librarians cover what librarians know, do and how they grow as professionals.

Basic requirements:

Bachelor’s degree, 3 years teaching experience, 4 portfolios, 6 essays

Portfolio topics: Instructional Collaboration, Appreciation of Literature, Integration of technology, Documented accomplishments. The literature and technology portfolios require video component, in addition to the written pieces.

The essay portion of the certification is timed and taken at a scheduled time. Two prompts are given and the candidate must address both prompts in a limited amount of time.

Info on National Board Certification for Librarians

Cost is about $3000 total, but funding is available from various sources. Some districts pay a stipend for librarians who have national board certification.

A new option is Take One. It allows teachers to sample and learn the standards for a particular area, videotape themselves doing a lesson and provide written commentary on that lesson.

Resources:

Discussion groups

Achieving National Board Certification for School Library Media Specialist – A Study Guide by Gail Dickinson

AASL web site

Education World

Blogs: Teacher Sol, Certifiable, Teaching Safari

Only 12 NBCTs in Texas! Might be something to look into!

School librarians are in short supply across the state of Texas and certification options are limited to nine universities. Dallas ISD created an alternative certification program for librarians in their school district in order to fill some of these positions.

A school librarian task force worked behind the scenes a full year before the program actually began. The program they developed consisted of several components. Participants took 9 hours of university coursework in the summer before beginning as a school librarian. A job shadowing component allowed participants to choose from an approved job shadow pool at each level for 5 days during the year. Mentoring was also part of the program. Experienced librarians were invited to complete a mentor application and were selected by the alternative certification staff. The mentors received training and a $1000 stipend. The district’s moodle system was used to post information for the mentors to use when working with the AC new librarians. AC librarians also participated in traditional district new librarian training along with fully certified librarians who were new to the library/district.

The AC Coordinator met once a month with the AC librarians to discuss questions and concerns, made site visits, gave TExES preparation training, and offered cataloging and children’s literature courses.

AC participants also had to complete portfolios to show growth for the year. The program allowed participants to become certified school librarians in two years.

Participants were actively recruited through newspaper ads, information sessions, district web sites and other communication publications.

The program was funded by the A-Plus grant (Alternative Programs for Librarians in Urban Settings) and was awarded almost $1 million. The program added 45 librarians to the district over three years.

Approximate program expense was about $6000 (if a participant was not in the grant).

Applicants to the program had to provide an application, a resume, transcripts, 3 letters of recommendation. The web site for the program is http://teachfordallas.com/librarian.

Candidates who qualified for the program were interviewed with a ranking instrument. They also had to take a computer test consisting of basic Word skills, web searching skills, and basic lesson planning ability.

Most participants passed the state certification exam on the first attempt.

Presented by Terry Alegria Roper, AC Coordinator, Dallas ISD