The National Board certified Teacher (NBCT) award is the most prestigious professional certification available in education. Recently, history teacher Katy Newcomb received this award. 

The NBCT is certification for someone who has demonstrated excellence in the content area of the subject they teach, Newcomb said. Since Newcomb is a history teacher, she took an exam to display her knowledge in politics and government, geography, U.S. history, as well as world history. The exam also tested her ability to differentiate instruction to meet different student needs, exhibited her ability to teach with video components and displayed how she could use data from LT and the community to best serve her students.

The process to get certified is not easy, Newcomb said. It usually takes between two to four years to receive an NBCT and when received, it is eligible for five years. Newcomb started her certification process in the spring of 2016. 

She initially learned about the certification opportunity from a Gurrie Middle School Teacher and was intrigued. After researching, Newcomb discovered that the NBCT was funded through Illinois State University and immediately began completing the requirements to get certified. She also made efforts to find other teachers that were going through the same process as her.

“I was feeling isolated throughout this process since no one else in the district was doing it, but I eventually became connected with other teachers through the Illinois state program certification, which was very beneficial,” Newcomb said.

Since getting certified is extremely difficult and time consuming, Newcomb had to stay motivated.

“At that point in my career I was looking for a way to motivate myself in a different way than I was able to do in professional development in LT only,” Newcomb said. “I wanted to connect to something bigger.” 

The certification process ended up being extremely timely, because of major elections taking place and the change of the political landscape in the country, Newcomb said. This real world example allowed her to dive deep and connect with her students.

“I really enjoyed the challenge of coming up with new ideas and ways to extend my students’ critical thinking skills,” Newcomb said.

It’s important for citizens in this politically divided country to be able to look at things from many different perspectives and to take our history and be able to apply it to things happening in Illinois and across the country, Newcomb said.

“When I really connected my lessons to the standards, I felt that my students benefited because they were thinking at a higher level and making connections; they were even trying to solve problems, which is what we are trying to teach as social studies teachers,” Newcomb said.

Newcomb has made an important point to enhance her educating abilities in order to support her students’ learning. Her teaching style has seemed to benefit many of them. 

“Mrs. Newcomb has helped me gain an interest in U.S. history by helping me find the cause and effect of different events,” Allie Downes ‘25 said.