By Travis

Across America, teachers at various levels and subjects went online to read the results of their National Board certification process.

Congratulations! Washington has always done well as a state and this is because Washington is on course to making excellence in education a state-wide goal. 

Thank you to all of the teachers who pursued the NB process; thank you to the legislators who know that National Board certification stands for excellence in Washington; and thank you to the groups and people who support our teachers going through the process. 

It is a grueling and professionally taxing process.

I remember turning the National Board box in. I had reflected and analyzed my teaching practice so much that I was reluctant to mail off the NB box. Then I waited. For a few weeks, I still had NB on my mind, but summer came soon enough. And then, in September, I remembered and then waited until the last week of November. A grueling wait.

But worth every moment of waiting, and every moment of the process. The National Board process was the single greatest factor in my life as a teacher. The opportunities it opened, and the deep analysis of my practice are things that I will take with me until I retire.

Thank you Washington teachers!