_Greeting National Board Candidates!

It is difficult to believe that the holiday season is now upon us and that a new year is quickly approaching! While your direct attention is likely on wrapping up the class projects, grading, holiday meal planning, travel plans, gift exchange ideas, and deadlines that December has to offer, we know, as teachers who have gone through this process, that your National Board work is always somewhere in your thoughts.

While we are hopeful that your winter break will offer opportunity for relaxation, interesting travel adventures, fun feasts, and quality family time, and while we are hopeful that you can catch up with your shopping, house work, work outs, holiday shopping, meal planning, gift wrapping, and sleep, we offer you one more challenge: If you have not yet finished your Splash Start orientation tasks as someone receiving support through National University, we ask that you complete that work.

It is not that we are trying to punish you, or put more on your plate. That is not the case at all. It is instead the case that as lead support providers, we have created this platform as the foundational pieces of what we know are the tools for ensuring that your National Board journey is relevant, meaningful, and well executed so that the journey allows for as much personal analysis and reflection as possible, which will lead to greater candidate success  and a more focused portfolio to submit to the National Board.  We have already encountered too many candidates who have headed in the wrong direction with their entry preparation because they have not thoroughly read, analyzed, and annotated their standards, portfolio directions, and scoring guides.  Investing the time to do so now will save you time and frustration later--and make the whole process easier and more effective.

Because we know that it is not until after the holidays that most teachers actually have time to breathe, we ask that you complete the Splash Start tasks that you can find in the ecoach Splash Start tab by January 5th.

We wish you a very meaningful and joyful holiday season.

Your National Board Candidate Support Provider Team

_On December 3 at 11am Pacific, CSPs Sean McCarthy and Joanna Murray will present a webinar on "Fairness, Equity, and Access."  These are important elements of most portfolio entries, and strategies for providing evidence of how you ensure fairness, equity, and access as you develop your entries will be discussed. 


This presentation is designed for candidates unable to attend our presentations at the NU La Jolla support meetings or who are not enrolled in the master's program.   However, all Accomplished Teaching and Leadership team members are welcomed to attend.




To access the session, go to the "Webinar" tab in eCoach and click on the link for the Fairness, Equity and Access webinar.  Follow the instructions to enter the session.