Make me a better teacher
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I’m a math teacher who works with at risk and struggling students and wants to get even better at what I do! There is a process called National Board Certification which is a rigorous and and research supported process that is linked to better student outcomes. In addition to being nationally well recognized as a very good way to make yourself a better teacher, the colleagues I respect most recommend it above all others. It is also expensive, $1975 to be specific, and I'm already in crippling debt, so I'm looking for support to make it happen.
I’m hoping that this process of studying my methodology and the improvement of my students will lead to more students graduating from my school and more students going to colleges they want. This coming year, like the last several years, I am teaching the lowest level of freshman math and the credit recovery class for students who are not on track to graduate. Working with these students motivates me to improve even more, even though my program is already quite successful, since they are often overlooked. I very much want to study how best to serve them as much as I can and I believe this is the best step I can take towards becoming a better teacher.
in addition to being expensive, National Boards Certification is a lot of work. I will be gathering and analyzing significantly more student data than normal, and doing a whole lot of writing. It’s going to be awesome and great in the long term, but in the mean time I will not only have to pay for the certification, but work my side job less because I’m already doing as much as I can, making the true financial burden even larger than the cost of the certification. Both of those make up a significant financial hardship for me as I make teacher money and have significant health problems. I am offsetting some of this with my side job this summer, but not nearly enough of it.
In the short term it’s bad for me financially, but in the long term, on top of improving student outcomes, it will mean I can stay in the profession longer without just accruing more and more debt. Once you are certified, most school districts give you a pay raise--in my district it's $3000/year. That will give me breathing room to afford to be healthy AND start digging myself out of debt, start saving money someday. The state of Oregon will refund some of the money eventually, but certainly not all of it (reports vary; I likely won't know until I'm significantly through the process) and not for a while, which basically means that without outside support, I will be going deeper into debt to stay healthy and get certified this year, even if some of it is eventually refunded. Assuming that happens, I'll post an update with a google form for how I could refund some portion of it to you, or you could donate it to my digging myself out of medical debt fund. Any and all help is appreciated. For this process, I have used the most likely not refunded numbers for the certification. Thanks for reading!
I’m hoping that this process of studying my methodology and the improvement of my students will lead to more students graduating from my school and more students going to colleges they want. This coming year, like the last several years, I am teaching the lowest level of freshman math and the credit recovery class for students who are not on track to graduate. Working with these students motivates me to improve even more, even though my program is already quite successful, since they are often overlooked. I very much want to study how best to serve them as much as I can and I believe this is the best step I can take towards becoming a better teacher.
in addition to being expensive, National Boards Certification is a lot of work. I will be gathering and analyzing significantly more student data than normal, and doing a whole lot of writing. It’s going to be awesome and great in the long term, but in the mean time I will not only have to pay for the certification, but work my side job less because I’m already doing as much as I can, making the true financial burden even larger than the cost of the certification. Both of those make up a significant financial hardship for me as I make teacher money and have significant health problems. I am offsetting some of this with my side job this summer, but not nearly enough of it.
In the short term it’s bad for me financially, but in the long term, on top of improving student outcomes, it will mean I can stay in the profession longer without just accruing more and more debt. Once you are certified, most school districts give you a pay raise--in my district it's $3000/year. That will give me breathing room to afford to be healthy AND start digging myself out of debt, start saving money someday. The state of Oregon will refund some of the money eventually, but certainly not all of it (reports vary; I likely won't know until I'm significantly through the process) and not for a while, which basically means that without outside support, I will be going deeper into debt to stay healthy and get certified this year, even if some of it is eventually refunded. Assuming that happens, I'll post an update with a google form for how I could refund some portion of it to you, or you could donate it to my digging myself out of medical debt fund. Any and all help is appreciated. For this process, I have used the most likely not refunded numbers for the certification. Thanks for reading!
Organizer
Rose Cottingham
Organizer
Portland, OR