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State Superintendent Sandy Garrett today congratulated Oklahoma teachers for elevating the state to No. 5 in the nation in the percentage of its teachers - nearly 6 percent - who are National Board Certified. Only 2 percent nationally have the advanced credential.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) today released the names of teachers (www.nbpts.org) who were awarded  national certification for 2008 and indicated Oklahoma had the nation's 8th highest rate of increase of National Board Certified teachers. Moreover, with 324 new National Board Certified teachers, Oklahoma ranks 10th in the nation in the total number (2,307) of its teachers with the certification.

"We had a 12 percent increase in nationally certified teachers in one year, and National Board teachers now comprise nearly 6 percent of our teaching force," Garrett said. "This is quite an accomplishment. Only seven states can say more than 5 percent of their total teaching force is National Board Certified and Oklahoma is of them!"

Garrett lauded the National Board incentives program funded by the state Legislature as the engine for fueling Oklahoma's progress with National Board certification. The program provides an annual $5,000 bonus to any classroom teacher who holds the certification and works full-time in a public school. The certification is valid for 10 years before a teacher needs to reapply. State funds also provide for scholarships to the Education Leadership Oklahoma program, which assists teachers in applying for national certification - a process that takes most a year to complete.

The majority of National Board teachers in Oklahoma - nearly 60 percent - work in high-poverty, Title I-eligible schools. The districts with the highest number of National Board teachers are Tulsa (131), Edmond (112), Norman (107), Moore (93) and Oklahoma City (93). This is the first year Oklahoma City was among the state's top 5 school districts in the number of National Board teachers. Oklahoma City edged the Putnam City school district for the 5th position.

"As one of the early members of the NBPTS and as Oklahoma State Superintendent, I congratulate our newly certified National Board teachers and encourage all Oklahoma teachers to consider pursuing this worthy goal," Garrett said. "It is a time-consuming, rigorous process, to be sure, but it makes good teachers even better teachers and that's a winning situation for students and schools."