AASL Board to discuss possibility of NBPTS Interest Group

Contact: Andrea Parker


312-280-1396

For Immediate Release


December 9, 2002

AASL Board to discuss possibility of NBPTS Interest Group

The board of directors for the American Association for School Librarians (AASL) will review a petition from AASL members to approve the creation of an interest group for those members who are National Board Certified teachers or aspiring to attain National Board Certification.

The petition was created after AASL members expressed an interest in developing an interest group during a forum on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) hosted by ASSL in October 2002. The forum featured valuable information from NBPTS representatives regarding the standards and assessment process. Attendees also received background on the development of support networks for candidates and had the opportunity to develop preliminary plans for the support and enhancement of leadership opportunities for school library media specialists who will become National Board Certified Teachers.

A total of 435 school library media specialists are National Board Certified with 94 being members of AASL. The AASL board is scheduled to review the petition during its meeting on Saturday at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting.

AASL
www.ala.org/aasl, a division of ALA, promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change, and develop leaders in the school library media field.