| Six Pittsburgh Schools' Teachers Honored for | | | | interviewing over one hundred finalist. In |
| Excellence | | | | addition to the $2,500 grant, each teacher |
| | | | was awarded a field trip for their classes to |
| Each year teachers across the state of | | | | the Carnegie Science Center, the Pittsburgh |
| Pennsylvania have the chance to win | | | | Zoo & PPG Aquarium or the Senator John Heinz |
| educational grants. Only teachers of | | | | Pittsburgh Regional History Center. |
| excellence are considered then the best are | | | | |
| chosen to receive the grants. The two | | | | Ten Pittsburgh Schools' Teachers Gain |
| thousand five hundred dollar grants are | | | | National Certification |
| awarded by the Teacher Excellence Center. | | | | |
| This year's grant recipients include six | | | | In the teaching profession the highest |
| Pittsburgh Schools' teachers: Jennifer | | | | teaching certification that a teacher can |
| Ernsthausen, a third-grade teacher at Burgwin | | | | hold is that of National Board for |
| Elementary School in Glen Hazel; Karen M. | | | | Professional Teaching Standards |
| Lewis, a first-grade teacher at Allard | | | | Certification. This is a much more rigorous |
| Elementary in the Moon Area School District; | | | | process than that of state certification. Ten |
| Sandra McWilliams, a second-grade teacher at | | | | Pittsburgh School teachers have succeeded in |
| Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Peters; | | | | gaining National Board Certification at the |
| Ron Sakolsky, a seventh-grade history teacher | | | | end of this school year. Many teachers and |
| at A.E. Oblock Junior High School in Plum; | | | | administrators consider this to be the |
| George Savarese, a 10th-, 11th- and | | | | profession's top honor. In the purely |
| 12th-grade history teacher at Mt. Lebanon | | | | volunteer process set by the National Board |
| High School; and Jeffrey Schilling, a | | | | for Professional Teaching Standards, National |
| seventh-grade English teacher at Independence | | | | Board Certification is achieved by |
| Middle School in Bethel Park. These teachers | | | | participating in performance-based assessment |
| were not just chosen at random but had to | | | | that often takes up to three years to |
| submit essays and were judged in a variety of | | | | complete and examines the teacher's or school |
| categories by peers, parents and students. | | | | counselor's knowledge and accomplishments. |
| The final decisions were made by a panel of | | | | The current number of National Board |
| top educators who had to choose from more | | | | Certified teachers in the Pittsburgh Schools |
| than three thousand nominees and then | | | | has risen to twenty-five. |