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District 211 teachers win national certification

Eleven teachers in Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 have earned National Board Certification credentials from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This is the highest professional certification credential in the teaching field.

Certification is completed over the course of a year, and candidates must successfully navigate various assessments to earn their credentials. District 211 now has 132 National Board Certified teachers, fourth among Illinois school districts and tops among high school districts in the state.

Teachers who earned certification were Jordan Catapano, Angela Drenth, Brian Drenth and Erik Hauser at Conant High School; Brian Curtin, Kimberly Selleck and Tracy Serafini at Schaumburg High School; Christopher Grattoni at Fremd High School; Gina Hubbard at Palatine High School; Tanya Katovich at Hoffman Estates High School; and Derek Schmidt at District 211 Academy-South.

As part of the certification process, candidates complete 10 assessments that are reviewed by trained teachers in their certificate areas. The assessments include four written portfolio entries that feature teaching practice and six constructed response exercises that assess content knowledge.

“The certification truly does reflect the highest honor that a teacher can accomplish, and it’s not something that can be faked through,” said Marci Albrecht, National Board Certified English teacher at Palatine High School and a mentor to Dist. 211 teachers seeking certification. The requirements “force these teachers to look at what is working and what isn’t, and how to improve because it all comes back to the students.”

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