SD DOE Press Release

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For Immediate Release: Jan. 23, 2013
Contact: Mary Stadick Smith - (605) 773-7228

Ten South Dakota teachers earn profession’s top honor

Ten South Dakota classroom teachers are among the nearly 4,980 elementary and secondary school teachers nationwide to achieve National Board Certification in 2012.

The achievement raises the number of National Board Certified Teachers in South Dakota to 99.

South Dakota’s 2012 recipients include:

• Katie Anderson, Science/Early Adolescence, Rapid City Area School District

• Lindsey Brewer, Mathematics/Adolescence and Young Adulthood, Huron School District

• Sandra Dalton, Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood, Todd County School District

• Amy Engel, Exceptional Needs Specialist/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood, Todd County School District

• Denise Farley, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood, Todd County School District

• Lee Ann Fischer, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood, Shannon County School District

• Katey Lee-Swank, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood, Rapid City Area School District

• Stacy Otten, Career and Technical Education/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood, Andes Central School District

• Jennifer Roberts, Art/Early Adolescence through Young Adulthood, Belle Fourche School District

• Anne Zoellner, Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood, Groton School District

“These teachers deserve our congratulations,” said South Dakota Secretary of Education Dr. Melody Schopp. “National Board Certification is a rigorous and comprehensive process. Those who achieve it demonstrate not only a commitment to student learning, but also a commitment to their own growth as teaching professionals.”

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.

To learn more about National Board Certification, call the South Dakota Department of Education at (605) 773-3134. www.doe.sd.gov

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