BENZIE COUNTY— Benzie County Schools has announced the first two National-Board Certified teachers in the district.
Michaela MacGirr and Asa Kelly spent two years working towards this certification.
In order to achieve the title, Michaela and Asa had to meet rigorous standards through completion of a portfolio, video lessons, reflections, and testing.
In the country, only 3% of educators have this title.
Out of over 200,000 educators in Michigan, only 603 educators have the title
According to data from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, students taught by teachers with the certification are 1-2 months ahead of their peers.
Asa Kelly, a Second Grade Teacher at Betsie Valley Elementary, said the program helped him dive deeper into looking at the individual student, adding “ I think that’s easy to overlook. You know, when you have classes of 20 or 30 students, it’s easy just to look at the whole class instead of looking at each kid really individually. ”
Right now, 3 other educators at Benzie County Schools are in the process of obtaining the certification.