Cheryl Willis

"I see them through different eyes," said Willis, a reading coach at W.T. Moore Elementary School."When you go through this, you're really looking at your own abilities.As classroom teachers, we're dancing as fast as we can."

Willis was talking about being a National Board Certified Teacher, an accomplishment in the teaching profession that raises teachers to a higher level.

She's one of more than 180 Leon County teachers who have this distinction, which requires one to three years of rigorous tasks and meeting standards to achieve it from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
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Willis, with 31 years, has been certified since 2000.

"The decision to become certified was one of those challenges you get when you reach a certain point in your career and decide you need to do something to make yourself even better," Willis said.
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Compensation for National Board Certified Teachers varies from state to state, Willis noted.In Florida, eligible teachers receive 10 percent of the average state teacher salary, paid annually in one lump sum.If they participate in mentoring beginning teachers and facilitating workshops and seminars, they get another 10 percent.

For example, if it's $45,000, board certified teachers would receive an extra $4,500 in addition to their salaries, which are based on a formula of education, years of experience and other criteria.

"We don't do this for the money, of course," Willis said.
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Cheryl Willis works with Majesty Simmons, a student in her second-grade class at W.T. Moore Elementary.Willis is a National Board Certified Teacher. > >

"We look at a lot of practical matters that relate to teaching that might not be fully developed from college," said Cheryl Willis, a national board certified teacher and mentor.Willis teaches at W.T. Moore Elementary.

The beginning teachers are paid to take part in the focus groups.They're required to attend seven of 11 sessions.The national board certified teachers receive a 10-percent pay increase from the state after they've mentored for the equivalent of 12 workdays. Willis, who's taught for more than 20 years, said she enjoys interacting with the first-year teachers."I felt like I had something to give to others," she said.