Commentary: Drawing from her teaching experience and expertise, Maggie Hornung, an art teacher at both Valley View and Desert Hills Elementary School, recently joined 271 of the most accomplished teachers across the country in Dulles, VA to help set performance standards for a variety of teaching certifications through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).
“It’s wonderful to see a talented leader like Maggie sharing her expertise at the national level,” said LCPS Superintendent Dr. Greg Ewing. “I’m honored to work alongside such a dedicated educator and I would like to thank Maggie for her continued commitment to support students and teachers.”
All of the participating National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) spent one to two days collaborating in groups based on their National Board certificate area/specialty, according to a NBPTS news release. During these collaborative sessions, each group of NBCTs helped establish portions of the performance standard indicating accomplished teaching within their particular certificate area/specialty.
“A critical part of the National Board's mission is to provide a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet the National Board Standards. We could not accomplish that part of our mission without these teachers' subject matter expertise, dedication, work and vision for the profession of teaching,” said Peggy Brookins, NBCT, President and CEO of the National Board.
In 2016, Hornung was recognized at LCPS Foundation Celebration of Excellence Dinner for earning her National Board Teaching Certification through NBPTS.
''This was an amazing experience. I am honored to be included among those asked to give input and to help set the national standards in my field. It was important to me to be able to review and help determine the current assessments for accomplished teaching," Hornung said.
The NBTS offers teaching certifications in Art, Career and Technical Education, English as a New Language, English Language Arts, Exceptional Needs Specialist, Generalist, Health Education, Library Media, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, School Counseling, Science, Social Studies-History and World Language.
The NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the quality of teaching and learning by: maintaining rigorous standards for what teachers should know and be able to do; Providing a national voluntary system for certifying teachers who meet these standards; and advocating for National Board Certification in American education and capitalizing on the expertise of certified teachers, according to the NBPTS website.