Teachers pursue national board certification

By Carol Rolf

LITTLE ROCK — Teachers often return to the classroom as students themselves. Many pursue master’s degrees, even doctorates. A select few will pursue national board certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Three teachers at Beebe Junior High School are, or have, done just that.

Mickey Cox, director of bands at both Beebe Junior High School and Beebe High School, received his national board certification in music, early adolescence through young adulthood, in 2003. He now serves as a mentor for two other teachers at the junior high school - Mona Tarkington, eighth-grade algebra teacher, and Tiffany Crafton, counselor. It can take from one to three years to receive certification.

Cox has been with the Beebe School District for 23 years. He teaches and/or helps with bands at all levels in the district, from middle school to high school, teaching about 400 students total. He graduated from high school in Georgia and received a bachelor’s degree in music from Harding University and a master’s degree from Indiana University. He has also taken classes in teaching gifted and talented students and is certified in that area.

“I first looked at national board certification in late 1990,” Cox said. But at that time, there was no certification in his area of expertise. “Then in 2002, they offered it for my field. I thought it would help me to be a better teacher, and I learned the district would pay board-certified teachers an extra $2,000 a year for 10 years.

“I asked myself, ‘What would I dowith an extra $20,000? Where else could a teacher go for that much extra money?’

“But that was only one part of the incentive,” Cox said. “Being boardcertified is a hallmark in my career. It’s changed my outlook on teaching, on life. And I can see the difference it has made in my students, too. I look at myself and see a very confident person, and I’m able to pass that along to my students.”

Cox now serves as the president of the Arkansas Association for Professional Teachers, which is an affiliate of the national organization.

“Arkansas has 844 national boardcertified teachers,” Cox said. “We are No. 11 in the nation with NBCTs, and we are in the top five in the nation for the ratio of NBCTs to classroom teachers.

“The Arkansas Legislature is partlyresponsible for Arkansas’ phenomenal growth, proving the annual stipend to NBCTs as an incentive to pursue the certification.”

Tarkington has been with the Beebe School District for five years, but she has a total of eight years in the field of education. A graduate of Harrison High School, Tarkington received a bachelor of science in education degree from the University of Central Arkansas through the non-traditional licensure program for those pursuing a teaching career after having been out of college for a while. She holds a master’s degree in occupational and environmental health from Henderson State University and worked for seven years for an environmental consulting company in Maumelle, “working with numbers.”

She taught chemistry and physicsduring her first years of teaching.

“That’s what I was used to doing for the environmental company,” she said with a laugh.

Tarkington said she is in “year two” of the national board-certification process. She is pursuing certification in mathematics, early adolescence.

“There are 10 parts to achieving certification,” she said. “You have to video yourself teaching the whole classroom and in small groups. You also have to pick two students and show their learning process.

“You have to write up about everything. You have to address how what you do impacts student learning.”

For Tarkington, achieving national board certification has more than one meaning.

“On one part, it’s me growing as a teacher professionally,” she said. “It also means extra money. Butultimately, it means being a better teacher for my students.”

Crafton is serving her first year as a school counselor. She has been a teacher for 13 years. A graduate of Jacksonville High School, Crafton received a Bachelor of Science in education degree from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in administration from Harding University.

When asked why she is pursuing national board certification in mathematics, early adolescence, Crafton answered: “I’m always looking for new ways to reach more students and challenge them. I want to help them reach their potential.”

Crafton said she is in the “second year” of the program and “hopes to achieve it this year.” - crolf@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 60 on 09/25/2008