Administration Grant

Teacher Excellence Grant Pilot

The Lake Forest High School Foundation is proud to embark on a three-year pilot project with District 115 Administration and Faculty. This project will provide financial incentives to teachers who wish to improve their professional practice through advanced scholarship in their specialty area or through the intensive self-reflection of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process. Backing this decision is a growing body of research showing that these two paths for teacher advancement - or “Programs” as they are called under the Teacher Excellence Grant – can significantly impact the quality of teaching and student learning.

The Teacher Excellence Grant is divided into two Programs: a Master Teacher Program and a Faculty Scholars Program. The Master Teacher Program will award grants to teachers who are seeking the NBPTS Master Teacher Certification. This certification has become the single most-recognized credential for accomplished classroom teaching in the United States. Teachers who undertake this program are seeking to improve their classroom practice through rigorous self-reflection, goal setting, intensive study, and expert evaluation. The NBPTS has likened this certification to that received by other professionals such as board-certified doctors and accountants. In addition, these Master Teachers often become mentors for newer teachers raising the overall quality of teaching in a school.

The Faculty Scholars Program, in turn, will provide grants in the form of tuition
assistance to those teachers interested in becoming more expert in their academic
disciplines. By providing financial assistance, these grants will help to address some of the cost and logistical obstacles to pursuing this type of advanced coursework. Research again has shown that teachers with deeper content knowledge of their specialty area (e.g. Science, Math, Art, English, etc.) have a greater impact on student learning than those with less content knowledge.

Dr. Amy Birtman in the English department was the first teacher at LFHS to be certified through the NBPTS.  According to Dr. Birtman, the process of seeking this certification has inspired and challenged her to seek new levels of excellence in her teaching.  In the classroom, she systematically reflects on her teaching practice, evaluating what’s working and what’s not working.  She has become more perceptive and aware of how to create assignments geared to many different learning styles.

The stated goal of NBPTS is “Better Teaching, Better Learning, Better Schools.”  The fact that LFHS has  teachers setting this goal for themselves is one more indication of the dedication of the entire staff at LFHS.  The teachers who complete this certification process are yet another example of those who are going the extra mile to prepare our students to be a success in high school, college, and their future careers.