App State candidates for National Board Certification take a break from App State National Board Support Workshops held Feb. 1 to celebrate App State being the nation’s No. 1 school for National Board Certified Teachers in 2024. Photo submitted
BOONE, N.C. — As a nationally recognized leader in teacher education, Appalachian State University remains the top alma mater for National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) for the ninth consecutive year.
The national certification — the top credential for working teachers — is based on a rigorous performance-based assessment that typically takes one to three years to complete and measures what accomplished teachers and counselors should know and be able to do.
App State topped the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ list of “Top 50 Alma Maters by Total Number of NBCTs” for 2024, with 2,215 alumni having earned the national credential to date.
“This is a testament to App State’s commitment to excellence in educator preparation,” said Dr. Melba Spooner, dean of App State’s Reich College of Education (RCOE).
“App State’s Reich College of Education emphasizes sustainable and lifelong learning practices,” she added. “Through our unwavering dedication to student success, service and academic innovation, App State continues to shape the future of education — one nationally certified educator at a time.”
App State alumna and National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) mentor Sue Drake ’92, right, provides support to an NCBT candidate at a National Board Support Workshop offered through App State and North Carolina’s Northwest Regional Education Service Alliance. Photo submitted
App State partners with alliance to help NC educators achieve certification
RCOE’s Office of Partnerships and Engagement collaborated with the state’s Northwest Regional Education Service Alliance (NWRESA) in 2020 to create NBCTApps (National Board Certified Teacher-Apps) — a joint professional development program to help North Carolina educators achieve their National Board Certification. The program provides professional development and mentoring sessions for NBCT candidates.
Dr. Betsy Rosenbalm ’01 ’05 ’08, director of the RCOE Office of Partnerships and Engagement, who earned the NBCT credential in 2006 and recertification in 2016, has observed increased engagement in the workshops — from both participants and mentors.
“Each year, we see more and more candidates achieving this certification and then turning around and wanting to give back to this App State NBCTApps program,” she noted. “They felt supported, so they want to support others.”
She added, “The partnerships with App State alumni and the NWRESA make this network of amazing educators so strong and effective.”
App State alumna and National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) mentor Misty Pritchard ’02 ’09, right, answers questions about the video materials to submit for a candidate. Photo submitted
App State alumnae and National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) mentors Sue Drake ’92, far left in foreground, and Debra Troxell ’90, center in foreground, share tips with an NBCT candidate on how to record videos of teaching. Photo submitted
When Jillian Baldwin ’14, a literacy specialist at Mountain View Elementary School in Ashe County, earned her certification, she immediately reached out to Rosenbalm to express her gratitude and offer her help to others.
“I found the sessions that App State hosted to be very beneficial and worthwhile,” Baldwin said. “I would love to help future candidates in any way that I can.”
North Carolina continues to lead the nation in the number of teachers who possess the National Board Certification credential — since 1987, 24,846 educators have earned the certification. In 2024, 710 North Carolina teachers gained the endorsement. Nationally, 4,355 teachers earned certification in 2023–24, raising the total among all states to over 140,000. In addition, 5,143 teachers nationally achieved recertification, including 937 board-certified teachers in North Carolina.
North Carolina accounts for nearly one-fifth (18%) of all teachers nationally who are certified by the teaching standards organization.
App State was founded in 1899 as a teachers college and continues to have one of the largest teacher education programs in North Carolina. School systems in almost all 100 counties of the state employ at least one graduate of App State’s Reich College of Education.
Learn more about National Board Certification.
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About the Reich College of Education
Appalachian State University offers one of the largest undergraduate teacher preparation programs in North Carolina, graduating about 500 teachers a year. The Reich College of Education enrolls more than 2,000 students in its bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist and doctoral degree programs, with offerings that span multiple fields — from teacher preparation, counseling, and therapy, to higher education, school and student affairs administration, library science, educational leadership and more. With over 10,000 alumni employed in North Carolina public schools, there is at least one Reich College graduate in every county in the state. Learn more at https://rcoe.appstate.edu.
About Appalachian State University
As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.
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