St. Viator Teacher Earns Highest Teaching Credential

Kevin Hogendorp, a social studies teacher at Saint Viator High School, became the first teacher in school history to earn the highest teaching credential available to American educators by becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

National Board Certification is achieved through a rigorous process in which candidates demonstrate excellence in their pedagogical skills and content knowledge through performance-based and peer-reviewed submissions and assessments. While the certification process can take up to three years to complete, Hogendorp earned his certification after only one year. Licensing standards set the basic requirements to teach in a state and NBCTs demonstrate advanced teaching knowledge, skills and practices similar to the certifications earned by experts in law and medicine.

“This certification process was rewarding because it allowed me to truly reflect on what I do in my classroom and how I can become a more effective teacher,” said Hogendorp.  “By using what I learned in becoming nationally certified I am confident that I will continue to grow as an educator.”

The certification process begins at the start of the school year in August and culminates with the submission of a portfolio in March. In 2012, 436 teachers from Illinois earned certification, bringing the total number of NBCTs in the state to 5582. Nationally, 102,237 teachers have achieved National Board Certification.

Hogendorp, who began teaching at Saint Viator in 2004, earned his graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University Chicago in 2007 and his undergraduate degree in Educational Studies from Knox College in 2000.

Founded in 1961, Saint Viator High School is a Catholic educational community called to provide religious formation and an academic program of excellence to young men and women.

Information provided by St. Viator High School.