Stafford Township Honors Teachers

Stafford Township K-6 School District recently honored two teachers who successfully completed the rigorous requirements needed to receive National Board Certification.

Susan Kilgallon and Stacey Suydam have been teaching in the district for eight and nine years respectively, and were recognized at a recent Board of Education meeting. 

“This is truly a great accomplishment,” said Superintendent Judith DeStefano-Anen. “The amount of work that goes into this certification is comparable to a doctoral program. We are very proud to have both of you working in our schools.”

To receive National Board Certification, candidates must successfully complete an evaluation program designed to recognize effective and accomplished teachers who meet high standards. This process, developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), is based on what teachers should know and be able to do.

As part of the certification process, candidates complete 10 assessments that are reviewed by trained teachers in their certificate areas. The assessments include four portfolio entries that feature teaching practice and six exercises that assess content knowledge.

“With the addition of Kilgallon and Suydam, we now have six teachers in the district who hold National Certification,” said Barbara D’Apuzzo, Stafford’s Director of Human Resources and Instruction. “To put this in perspective, the most recent statistics provided by NBPTS indicate that there are 223 nationally certified teachers in New Jersey and the Newark School District, which has 2700 teachers, has just 7 that are nationally certified. “