More Richmond area teachers receive national board certification

By Mike Frontiero and Terry Dozier

WHAT:           The Metropolitan Educational Training Alliance (META), a partnership of the Chesterfield County Public Schools, Hanover County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools and Richmond City public schools and the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, will host a ceremony honoring its second group of teachers to achieve National Board Certification. The partnership was formed in 2001 to meet the professional development and training needs of teachers, administrators and other educational personnel.

The ceremony will honor 17 teachers from Chesterfield County, Henrico County, Hanover County and Richmond City public schools.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan and non-governmental organization whose mission is to establish high and rigorous standards of what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do. Offered on a voluntary basis, NBPTS certification complements, but does not replace, state licensing. It is a professional certification increasingly used by states and local communities as a way to identify and reward exemplary teachers.

WHO:             William C. Bosher, Ph.D., dean, VCU School of Education

Keynote speaker:  Sarah Hopkins Finley, Deputy Secretary of Education, Office of the Governor of Virginia

WHEN:          Monday, December 8 at 5 p.m. in the VCU Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave., Commonwealth Ballroom B.

Editors note:  A list of the newly certified teachers and their reactions to completing the program are available upon request.