Twenty-five Lake Washington School District (LWSD) teachers — including 10 from Redmond — have achieved National Board Certification.
There are currently 204 National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) working full-time in the district’s schools.
“Lake Washington School District prides itself on the caliber of its teaching staff and we’re grateful to have so many teachers commit themselves to excellence,” said Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce. “The National Board Certification process directly benefits our students because teachers increase their capacity to evaluate the best classroom strategies for academic success.”
National board certification takes teachers through a demanding process to help further their instructional skills and typically takes more than a year to complete. The process requires teachers to demonstrate how their work improves student achievement. As part of the process, teachers build a portfolio that includes student work samples, assignments, videotapes and a thorough analysis of their classroom teaching. Teachers are also assessed on their knowledge of the subjects they teach. National Board certification is considered the highest professional credential a teacher can obtain.
LWSD ranks 21st in the country for the number of new National Board Certified Teachers. Numbers released by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards show that the state of Washington is fourth overall in the total number of NBCTs (6,740).
Each teacher achieves certification in a subject area and age range.
The new National Board Certified Teachers in Redmond, along with their field, are:
- Janet Lee Griffin, Library Media/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood
- Erin Christensen, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood
- Michelle Brennan, Generalist/Middle Childhood
- Ryan Scott, Mathematics/Early Adolescence
- Melissa Scott, Mathematics/Early Adolescence
- Erica Gilliland, Social Studies – History/Adolescence to Young Adulthood
- Maria Gutierrez, World Languages Other than English/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood
- Linda Harris Shadley, World Languages/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
- Ashley Raji, World Languages/Adolescence and Young Adulthood
- Stephen Drew Thornsberry, Mathematics/Early Adolescence
