City High School Co-Founder Achieves National Board Certification

January 30, 2012

Tucson, AZ -  Brett Goble, an award-winning Humanities teacher and co-founder of City High School, recently earned the highest credential available to American educators by becoming a National Board Certified Teacher.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) grants individual teachers National Board Certification following a rigorous, performance-based assessment of a teacher’s pedagogical skills and content knowledge. The Board awarded 80 new national board certifications to Arizona educators in November. Brett was one of only two charter school teachers in the state to achieve National Board Certification in 2011.

Brett Goble is a 15-year veteran teacher. He teaches 10th grade American Studies and directs the professional development outreach program for City High School and its parent organization Tucson Small School Project.

Brett described the national board certification process as rigorous and worthwhile. The NBPTS standards he found to be especially helpful as he reflected on – and honed – his practice over the last year. “The standards were clear, specific, and relevant to my practice as a social studies and humanities teacher,” he explained.

Brett is the second City High School staff member to become nationally board certified. He joins another co-founder and the school’s principal, Eve Rifkin, in sharing this honor; Eve achieved national board certification in 2003.

While state licensing systems set the basic requirements to teach in each state, the National Board sets very high standards and requires candidates to demonstrate advanced teaching knowledge, skills and practices. NBPTS certification identifies qualified teachers as leaders in their field, much like the certifications earned by experts in law and medicine.

“As the nation focuses on building the strongest possible teaching workforce, National Board Certification is the gold standard in affirming excellence in the classroom,” said Ron Thorpe, NBPTS president and CEO. “These highly qualified teachers are true ‘nation builders,’ and are the educators who are best positioned to lead the ground-up movement our schools need to reach their potential.”

On February 11, 2012, Brett will be honored at the Arizona K12 Center’s annual Celebration of Accomplished Teaching event in Phoenix, along with all newly National Board Certified teachers in Arizona.

The K12 Center is a key proponent of the national board certification process for Arizona educators. Brett really appreciated their role. “I have a lot of gratitude for the support I received along the way. I was part of a program – part of a community – and not just doing it on my own,” said Brett Goble.