Linda Dale earns national certification

GULF HIGH SCHOOL, Nov. 30, 2000 - GHS science teacher Linda Dale has become the first high school teacher in Pasco county to earn certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

She was certified in November 2000 and is among about 4700 teachers nationwide who were certified in 2000. A number of teachers in Pasco county have previously been certified, but none at the high school level.

Mrs. Dale teaches Biology and Anatomy and Physiology and is the team leader of the IHHS learning community. She has been teaching at Gulf since the 1993-94 school year. Before coming to Gulf, she taught for seven years in Norfolk, Va. She holds a B. S. degree in Elementary Education from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, an Associate's degree from George Washington University, and has done additional course work at Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University.

Certification by the NBPTS is a voluntary process, achieved through a rigorous performance-based assessment that takes nearly a year to complete. Through the assessment process, teachers document their subject matter knowledge, provide evidence they know how to teach their subjects to students most effectively, and demonstrate their ability to manage and measure student learning.

The National Board was created in 1987. It says its mission is "to establish high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do, to develop and operate a national, voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet these standards and to advance related education reforms for the purpose of improving student learning in American schools."

There are currently 9,498 National Board certified teachers.