The present study measured student gains in learning using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test pre and post-test mean scale scores in reading comprehension and math problem solving. The project involved classes of students in fourth and fifth grade in six north Florida counties. Thirty class sets of students were taught by a National Board Certified teacher, and a comparable set of thirty class sets of students of the same grade level and at the same school were taught by a teacher who was not National Board Certified. The analysis indicated if National Board Certified teachers produced a higher mean gain score for their students than teachers not certified by National Board.

Did National Board Certification make the needed difference in student learning? The results of the main effect of the study did not indicate a statistically significant difference in the average reading comprehension and math problem solving achievement of students whose teachers were National Board Certified as compared to those whose teachers were not National Board Certified. There was a statistically significant main effect for grade level. In follow up testing there was a statistically significant difference between reading at the fourth and fifth grade levels. A small statistically non-significant difference was found in the math gain score means (favored fifth grade) and a larger difference in reading gain scores (favored fourth grade). There was a statistically non-significant effect for the grade level by teaching status two-way interaction.