Summit Teacher Earns National Board Certification

Andi Ward, a 6th Grade teacher in the Summit School District, is one of only five South Dakota classroom teachers to achieve National Board Certification in 2017.

“National Board Certified teachers demonstrate a deep knowledge of their content and a commitment to improving their instruction. It’s no easy task, and I congratulate them on the accomplishment,” said South Dakota Secretary of Education Don Kirkegaard.

The achievement raises the number of National Board Certified Teachers in South Dakota to 111.

The full list of South Dakota’s 2017 recipients include:

• Chelsey Coverdale, Mathematics/Early Adolescence, Harrisburg School District
• Carla Diede, Mathematics/Early Adolescence, Harrisburg School District
• Crystal McMachen, Mathematics/Early Adolescence, Rapid City Area School District
• Ann Noyes, Mathematics/Early Adolescence, Pierre School District
• Andi Ward, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood, Summit School District

National Board Certification is achieved through a rigorous, performance-based, peer-reviewed assessment of a teacher’s pedagogical (teaching) skills and content knowledge. The certification process takes one to three years to complete. While licensing standards set the basic requirements to teach in a state, National Board Certified teachers demonstrate advanced teaching knowledge, skills and practices similar to the certifications earned by experts in law and medicine.

In 2016, the South Dakota Legislature reinstated stipends for South Dakota National Board Certified teachers. South Dakota teachers who earn National Board Certification receive $2,000 per year for five years, with $1,000 paid by the South Dakota Department of Education and $1,000 paid by the teacher’s school district.