Certification

Candidates for MTNA Professional Certification can take advantage of the Certification Portfolio option. This option, which became available in January, allows candidates to complete Step II of the certification process to earn Professional Certification.

The Certification Portfolio is a compilation of materials and documents designed to validate and fulfill the MTNA Professional Certification Teaching Standards required to become a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM). It provides concrete evidence of certification candidates' knowledge, attitude and skills as a professional and reflects candidates' individuality, creativity and self-sufficiency. One primary purpose of the portfolio is to provide the National Certification Commission with an effective and accountable documentation of certification candidates' professional teaching competence.

In the short time since enacting this option, several Certification Portfolios have been received at MTNA. One evaluator, upon completing the evaluation of the Certification Portfolio, said, "Since I was looking at my very first Certification Portfolio, it took me a long time to evaluate it. I had to get into a completely different mode from that of evaluating the Certification Examination. It was an almost pleasant task. I found nothing tedious about it at all. I've come away feeling like I know much, much more about the candidate's teaching abilities-and personality for that matter-than I would have known had the candidate elected to take the optional certification examination. I think the portfolio route is a much more objective and informative way to go than the certification examination, and it's so much easier to evaluate objectively." Another evaluator commented, "I was really pleased that the certification portfolio that came to me was done so well. It took a long time to go over it with the document and the Criteria Evaluation Rubric Scale in front of me. I found the Rubric and the Criteria Evaluation Rubric Scale to be very helpful. Though it took more time than a certification examination to evaluate, I enjoyed the process more and feel the evaluation process will be more consistent with the tool we have to use."