Nine Instructional Staff Renew National Board Certification

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards recently announced that nine APS instructional staff renewed their National Board Certification.

• Sally Donnelly, Dorothy Hamm Middle School – Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood
• Heather M. Downey, Wakefield High School – Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adult
• Rachna Fraccaro, Jamestown Elementary School – Generalist/Middle Childhood
• Mary Gaynor, Jamestown Elementary School – Art/Early and Middle Childhood
• Jennifer Goen, H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program – English Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
• Sherry Lord, Williamsburg Middle School – Library Media/Early Childhood through Young Adult
• Wanda McPhee, Wakefield High School – Mathematica/Early Adolescence
• Amy Slavin, Ashlawn Elementary School – Generalist/Early Childhood
• Jawana Washington, Gunston Middle School – Mathematics/Early Adolescence

National Board Certification is a public assurance that teachers have met the profession’s highest standards for accomplished practice. It also signifies that teachers are up to date on the knowledge and best practice in their certificate area.

National Board Renewal is different from initial certification which is a voluntary assessment program that recognizes, encourages and rewards teachers to strive for excellence. While state licensing systems set basic requirements to teach, teachers who earn National Board Certification have successfully demonstrated advanced teaching knowledge, skills and practices as determined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Candidates who have submitted for initial certification will find out if they achieved certification by the end of December 2019.