Japanese language teachers deserve the opportunity to become National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs). Your signature will urge the National Board Certification Council to open certification to eligible Japanese language teachers.

The National Board Certification process is a prestigious, nationally-recognized teaching certificate that recognizes the nation’s top 3% of public school educators. Teachers undergo a rigorous application process, which consists of a content-specific proficiency exam; portfolio submission of lesson and unit plans and classroom video recordings; and reflection essays. This entire process can take up to five years under the new, revised National Board Certification policies.

Currently, only Spanish and French teachers are eligible to be certified as National Board Certified Teachers of World Languages. This excludes teachers of less commonly taught, though equally valuable, languages from earning the distinction of being a NCBT. Japanese language teachers do not even have the chance to prove our skills to the National Board.

Teachers ineligible to pursue Board Certification must pay to acquire professional certification through state-specific programs, many of which carry no national privileges, no pay incentives, and no prestige. In many school districts, NCBTs receive compensation for the application process (compensation is often not offered for in-state certification routes); NCBTs may receive annual pay stipends, whereas non-NCBTs receive none; NCBTs are certified to teach in any state in the nation, whereas non-NCBTs must recertify if they move out-of-state.

We believe that Japanese language teachers have the skills, pedagogical knowledge, training, and discipline to undergo the Board Certification process and to emerge as first-class teachers.

We believe that Japanese language teachers deserve the chance to prove our value to the National Board and to our national community through the Board Certification process.

Please join us in urging the National Board to open certification to Japanese language teachers.