In this paper, we describe the results of a study assessing the relationship between the certification of teachers by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and elementary-level student achievement. We examine whether NBPTS assesses the most effective applicants, whether certification by NBPTS serves as a signal of teacher quality, and whether completing the NBPTS assessment process serves as a catalyst for increasing teacher effectiveness. We find consistent evidence that NBPTS is identifying the more effective teacher applicants and that National Board Certified Teachers are generally more effective than teachers who never applied to the program. The statistical significance and magnitude of the “NBPTS effect,” however, differs significantly by grade level and student type. We do not find evidence that the NBPTS certification process itself does anything to increase teacher effectiveness.

The notion that some high stakes need to be attached to direct measures of teachers’ class-room performance as a control for quality in the work force is an idea gaining traction in public education. One such proposal prescribes low-ering the barriers to entry into teaching while simultaneously being more selective about which teachers are retained when they become eligible for tenure (Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. Staiger 2006; Eric A. Hanushek 2009).