By Jamie Miller
Salem Elementary teacher, Tisha Long, has just been Nationally Board Certified.
According to Salem Elementary principal Mark Scarlett,[more] “Tisha is a dedicated and caring teacher who gives her all for her students. She is a valued resource to me and Salem Elementary. I am so happy for her. I know how hard she worked for this last year.”
Long began her National Board experience when she attended a meeting in Fort Smith to learn more about the process as a whole. She made her first payment in May of 2009 and received the National Board information packet shortly thereafter. “It was an overwhelming amount of instructions, guidelines, and information. I read and studied the binder over the summer, and once school resumed the real work began to compile data, work samples, videotape lessons, and other items,” Long said.
Over the course of the certification, there were four portfolio entries that Long had to prepare, implement, analyze and then reflect on. Each entry had to adhere to strict standards and consisted of numerous pages of work.
“The writing was the most intense work I have ever completed. I worked an enormous amount of hours at my kitchen table writing, revising, editing, analyzing, reflecting, and rewriting, and I attended a monthly candidate support group as well,” Long said.
After all of the writing was finished, it had to be boxed up and sent to the processing center at the end of March 2010. In May, Long took a three-hour computerized exam that consisted of six 30-minute tests. As a whole, the process took about 10 months to complete. Long then had to wait until November of 2010 to receive her scores on the exam she took in May. This would determine whether or not she would become certified in year one or not. Every teacher that begins certification has three years to past the exam.
“On Nov. 19, I checked my results. The first thing I saw was ‘Congratulations! You are a National Board Certified Teacher.’ I cried, laughed … ,” Long said.
According to Long, the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher has helped her to realize what exactly she does in the classroom and it has made her a better teacher.
Salem Elementary is one of the top schools in the state of Arkansas.
Scarlett attributes this partly to Long’s accomplishment. “The growth in our test scores the last three years have been because of a school full of dedicated staff. Tisha has been a big part of the great things that are happening at Salem.”
