Congratulations to our very own Kurt Hassenpflug on recently earning his National Board Certification. Hassenpflug teaches English as a New Language (ENL) and English Language Arts (ELA) at Shaker High School.
National Board Certification was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improvement in schools nationwide. It is known as the most respected professional certification available in K-12 education.
“The certification process was very demanding and I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues, administrators, cohort group, and family for supporting me throughout the process, as well as the State of New York for providing me with an Albert Shanker Grant to help afford it,” Hassenpflug said.
After teaching for 11 years, with five of those years in the North Colonie Central School District, Hassenpflug earned the profession’s highest mark of achievement through a rigorous, performance-based, peer-review process, demonstrating their proven impact on student learning and achievement.
“National Board Certification really does represent the gold standard for what it means to be a reflective educator and achieving it has helped me gain both skill and confidence in my reflective practices,” Hassenpflug said. “Ultimately, I feel that going through it has improved my pedagogy in the classroom and has helped me work toward being the absolute best teacher I can be for my students. As teachers, I don’t think we are ever finished products – there is always more to do, more to learn, new mountains to climb, new challenges to face, etc. But I do believe that becoming an NBCT has helped me get closer toward achieving these goals.”
This year, there were 3,831 new National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), who are helping students reach their highest potential in 2,914 schools across 46 states.
There are currently 2,115 NBCTs in New York state, including 14 in the North Colonie Central School District.