The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was created in 1987 to establish high standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do and to develop a voluntary certification system for teachers who demonstrate these standards. The Board, comprised primarily of teachers, has identified 30 areas of certification. Two art certificates are represented among the 30:

• Early through Middle Childhood/Art
• Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood/Art

To date, a set of 8 standards have been developed for Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood/Art:

1. Goals and Purposes of Art Education
2. Knowledge of Students
3. The Content and Teaching of Art
4. Learning Environments
5. Instructional Resources
6. Collaboration with Colleagues
7. Collaboration with Families
8. Reflection, Assessment and Evaluation.

To earn National Board certification, teachers must demonstrate these standards on multi-part assessments that include portfolio entries and assessment center exercises. Assessment of the above standards will be available in December 2001 when standards for the other art certificate will also be available.

The Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) is utilizing NBPTS Candidate Subsidy funds to support 196 candidates at 50% of the certification fee. For more information, visit the National Board website at www.nbpts.org/where/central/texas.html. Additionally, a number of local districts, including the Corpus Christi and San Antonio Independent School Districts, provide support for teachers seeking National Board certification.