O Pioneers!: May 1994

By Ann Bradley

Diane Hughart has written lessons that accompany Emmy Award-winning videos. Rick Wormeli's face has graced the sides of city buses. And both have given speeches and advice to colleagues more times than they can count. But what matters most is that Hughart and Wormeli are still classroom teachers—just as they were during the 1993-94 school year, when they held each other's hands through the grueling process of becoming certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Back then, Hughart and Wormeli, colleagues at Herndon Middle School in Northern Virginia, were quiet pioneers. They were among just a handful of teachers nationwide who spent countless hours videotaping their lessons, writing commentaries, taking exams, and fretting over paperwork to help field-test what was then a brand-new assessment process. And, at the time, the rewards were uncertain.

In the years since, both the teachers and the national board have evolved. Hughart and Wormeli, who earned national certification as English teachers working with children in early adolescence, are accomplished professionals whose skills are much in demand. And the board, a privately funded organization launched in 1987, is now considered a prominent school reform player, embraced by politicians and a growing number of teachers. Earlier this fall, in fact, more than 7,000 candidates signed up for this year's assessment process, which measures teachers against professional standards and certifies...