First in Dallas County to earn profession’s top credential

Submitted to The Times-Journal

Brenda Allen Holder of Selma has earned the teaching profession’s top credential by achieving National Board Certification in 2006, according to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).

Holder teaches English at Southside High School.

She has been a teacher for 13 years and holds a bachelor’s degree in language arts and a master’s degree in school counseling.

Holder is one of more than 7,700 teachers nationwide who achieved National Board Certification this year, and is the first teacher in all public and private schools in Dallas County to earn this recognition, while teaching in the county.

A voluntary process established by the NBPTS, National Board Certification is achieved through a rigorous, performance-based assessment that typically takes more than a year to complete and measures what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.

Teachers who earn this advanced teaching credential are among the best qualified in the nation to improve instruction, raise student achievement, and improve teaching practices in their classrooms, schools and districts.

NBPTS continues to be the most thoroughly grounded, in research terms, of any assessment program in the teaching profession and has subjected itself to a higher standard of research and validation than any other professional board in the United States.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia and hundreds of individual school districts across the nation recognize National Board Certification as a mark of distinction and have implemented policies and regulations to recruit, reward and retain National Board Certified teachers.

Dallas County School System Superintendent, Dr. Fannie Major-McKenzie congratulated Holder on her accomplishment, and said, &8220;I am very proud that Mrs. Holder has attained this honor. The effort necessary to achieve National Board Certification is formidable. Mrs. Holder’s certification should stand as testimony to our teachers that this goal is attainable, and should be an encouragement to others to follow her example.&8221;