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Gov. Gregoire meets with teachers, encourages National Board Certification

For Immediate Release: March 8, 2008

TACOMA � Gov. Chris Gregoire today spoke to 900 teachers in Tacoma to encourage those preparing for National Board Certification. The governor congratulated some 650 of those teachers who are taking the Home Stretch program, sponsored by the Washington Education Association, to complete the National Board Certification process, and another 200 who are providing support to the candidates.

�The certification process takes many hours and a commitment to the students of our state,� Gregoire said. �We are fortunate to have so many committed teachers in Washington because high-quality teaching leads to better outcomes in the classroom.�

To encourage more teachers to complete the National Board Certification program, Gregoire authored legislation that provides a $5,000 annual pay raise for Board-certified teachers. Teachers can receive an additional $5,000 if they teach in high-needs schools. Gregoire�s approach to rewarding those efforts has paid off. Washington is now one of the nation�s leaders of Board-certified teachers. More than 1,800 Washington teachers now hold the certification and almost that many are working toward attaining it.

�The 825 teachers participating in Home Stretch are representative of the hard-working, dedicated public school employees who provide our state�s students a high-quality education each and every day,� said Mary Lindquist, WEA president. �We appreciate Governor Gregoire�s staunch support for the National Board Certification program and our public schools in general.�

Many of the participating teachers were from Pierce County.

�The National Board Certification process has been one of the most difficult things I�ve ever done, but it has also been the most rewarding. The program has not only benefited me as a teacher, but will also benefit my students,� said Tony Lund, a forensics, physics and ninth- grade lab science teacher from Wilson High School in Tacoma.

�National Board Certification has been incredibly rigorous, time consuming, maddening and worth it,� said Zoe Zachmeier, a fourth-grade teacher at Fawcett Elementary School in Tacoma. �I work in a Title One school and the students who go to my school deserve the best of the best. National Board-certified teachers need to be working in high-needs schools.�

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