National Board Certified Teacher Dr. Amie Snow ’06 ’14, director of curriculum and instruction at the Appalachian State University Academy at Middle Fork, greets two young students as they enter the school for Open House Aug. 22. Snow is a two-time graduate of Appalachian and her NBCT credential includes a generalist/middle childhood certification. She holds an M.A. in reading education with a general graduate teaching certificate and a doctorate in educational leadership. Photo by Marie Freeman
The logo of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Image courtesy of NBPTS
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University has been recognized — for the fourth consecutive year — as the national leader for the number of Reich College of Education (RCOE) alumni who are National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT).
The university topped the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ 2019 list of “Top 50 Alma Maters by Total Number of NBCTs,” with 2,057 alumni having earned the national credential to date.
Additionally, North Carolina continues to lead the nation in the number of teachers who have become NBCT — 22,653 educators have earned the certification since 1987. In 2019, 710 North Carolina teachers gained the endorsement.
“We are proud to lead the nation’s public and private universities and colleges with the highest number of alumni with the National Board certification credential,” said Dr. Melba Spooner, dean of Appalachian’s RCOE. “Our alumni place an intrinsic value on being leaders in their field.”
“We also help lay the foundation for a commitment to life-long learning through an initiative of pairing our nationally board-certified alumni with our preservice teachers during student teaching, which in turn creates a connection for our alumni to give back to the university and the profession,” she added.
The national certification is based on a rigorous performance-based assessment that typically takes from one to three years to complete and measures what accomplished teachers and counselors should know and be able to do.
Nationally, 3,831 teachers earned certification in the 2018–19 academic year, raising the total among all states to nearly 126,000. In addition, 4,783 teachers nationally achieved recertification, including 1,421 board-certified teachers in North Carolina.
North Carolina accounts for nearly one-fifth, or 18%, of all teachers nationally who are certified by the teaching standards organization. Nationally certified teachers also account for a larger percentage of the total teaching force in North Carolina than any other state, with more than one of every five having earned the credential.
Appalachian was founded in 1899 as a teachers college and continues to have one of the largest teacher education programs in the state. School systems in all 100 counties of the state employ at least one graduate of Appalachian’s RCOE.
Additional information about the national certification is available here.
The logo of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Image courtesy of NBPTS
About the Reich College of Education
Appalachian offers one of the largest undergraduate teacher preparation programs in North Carolina, graduating about 500 teachers a year. The Reich College of Education enrolls approximately 2,400 students in its bachelor's, master's, education specialist and doctoral degree programs. With so many teacher education graduates working in the state, there is at least one RCOE graduate teaching in every county in North Carolina. Learn more at https://rcoe.appstate.edu.
About Appalachian State University
As the premier public undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls more than 20,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
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