The West Virginia University-based Benedum Collaborative begins its seventh annual cohort this fall for public school teachers pursuing certificationand based on its track record from previous years, most of those educators will make the grade.

More than 70 percent of all teachers who have taken part in the cohort in past years have been successfully certified by the National Board for Teaching Standards, which is the only nationally recognized certifying body for K-12 teachers.

Working through the cohort is an academic rite of passage, said Carol Muniz, a Benedum Fellow of Professional Development. Thats because it isnt easy, she said.

It is an honor to achieve this level of success,she said.The whole application process changes one as a teacher. Its impossible to go through the application process and testing without growing professionally.

The process takes 16-18 months to complete. Nearly 10 months are spent developing portfolios and testing with an additional six months needed to score application materials related to the certification process.

Portfolios include everything from lesson plans to teaching philosophies, and the educators must also include classroom video of them in actionfollowed by detailed assessments what did and didnt work with the corresponding lesson plan. They also take tests themselves, which gauge how well they actually know their craft.

The Benedum Collaborative was established in 1990 as one of the nations first school-university partnerships. It unites WVU s College of Human Resources and Education with 28 public schoolsdesignated asProfessional Development Schoolsacross a five-county region in north-central West Virginia.

For more information on the program and the sessions at Suncrest and East Dale, call Muniz at 304-293-4714.