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