Bellevue District Among Top In Newly National Board Certified Teachers

The Bellevue School District was among the top ten districts nationwide, and top for numbers of new National Board Certified teachers this school year, according to a press release from the Bellevue School District.

Bellevue has 34 new National Board Certified teachers, which is more than any other district in the state this year.

Nearly thirty percent of all teachers in Bellevue are Nationally Board Certified, which is a program administered by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

The program is available to teachers with three years of professional teaching or counseling experienc and consists of a multi-part portfolio that documents teaching practices and assesses content knowledge and assessment by a national panel of trained teachers in the applicant's subject area. The process can take up to three years and as many as 400 hours of work, according to the district. 

“The number of teachers who have chosen to pursue such a high standard is impressive, and directly supports the quality of instruction that all of our educators in the Bellevue district strive to provide to each child in every classroom, every day,” Bellevue superintendent J. Tim Mills said in a prepared statement.

More than 380 Bellevue teachers have earned National Board certification.  The district helps teachers cover the cost of registration and initial assessment fees.  The Bellevue Schools Foundation also provides support to NBCT candidates, investing more than $795,000 in the program since 2003, according to the district.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards lists the following Bellevue teachers: 

CORY BALPH: Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

KELLY BALZER: Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

REBECCA BROWN: Mathematics/Early Adolescence

VIRGINIA BURDICK: Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

JANE DODGSON: Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

ABIGAIL ELLINGSON: Generalist/Middle Childhood

ANDREA ESPINOSA: Generalist/Early Childhood

CHRISTOPHER ESTEFANI: Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

ERIN FLESHMAN: Generalist/Middle Childhood

MEGAN GARNER: Art/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood

STEVE GRITTON: Generalist/Middle Childhood

CARYN HEFFERNAN: Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

ANTHONY JONAS: Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence

ROBERT KILBY: Social Studies - History/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

KIRK KREILING: Mathematics/Early Adolescence

ROBYN LAPOINT: Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood

GRETCHEN LEWIS: Generalist/Middle Childhood

BRENDA LINDGREN: Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

EMILY LUMAN: Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence

DANIELLE LYNCH: Mathematics/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

JESSICA MALAN: Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood

SCOT MILLHOLLEN: Mathematics/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

CORY MOLZAHN: World Languages Other than English/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood

ROBERT MORE: Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence

S. MORENO: Art/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood

CARIN NASH: English Language Arts/Early Adolescence

MARGARET PEARSON: Generalist/Early Childhood

ANNA POSPISIL: Mathematics/Adolescence and Young Adulthood

SHANNON RIP: Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood

STEPHEN SIEBERSON: Social Studies - History/Early Adolescence

TRACEY THOMPSON: Generalist/Middle Childhood

TERESA THROSSELL: Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood

ANNE YOUNG: Generalist/Middle Childhood

JILLIEN YU: Generalist/Early Childhood