Professional socialization

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification is one way in which teachers can demonstrate excellence in teaching. This study was conducted in order to examine the effect of the professional development experiences on overall scores on the assessment of candidates for National Board Certification RTM in Florida. The study was conducted using the entire population of candidates in Florida (1,787) during the 2000--2001 assessment cycle. A survey was used to collect data from the candidates. Of the surveys sent, 62% were returned and used in the study. The survey included questions regarding the educational background, demographics, and professional development experiences of the teachers. To examine the effect of professional development experiences on the overall National Board Certification assessment scores, a multiple regression analysis was used. A predictive discriminant analysis was used to predict passing or non-passing group membership. The criterion variable used was the score on the National Board Certification assessment. Results indicated that professional development experiences coupled with background and demographics contributed significantly to a candidate's overall score. In the full model, controlling for all of the other variables in the model, holding an advanced degree in the field was found to contribute to the predictive accuracy of the model. Also, the number of hours preparing the portfolio and preparing for the assessment center also contributed to the predictive accuracy of the model. Bivariate correlations indicated that there was a positive correlation between candidates' overall scores and the number of hours of professional development. There was a positive correlation between the overall score and the amount of time preparing the portfolio entries and for the assessment center. The predictive accuracy of the full model for predicting passing and non-passing group membership was 58.7%. Tests of significance for the unique contribution of each subset of variables to the cross-validated classification accuracy of the full model were insignificant.