The New Mexico National Board Certified Teacher Network began in 2001. A group of National Board Certified Teachers and other educational leaders met and envisioned a statewide network of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) working together to advance the work of National Boards in New Mexico.
Through a survey, it was determined that NBCTs were interested in forming a statewide network. Thirty National Board Teachers attended the first conference in January 2002. They created by-laws, action plans and named our network, The New Mexico World Class Teacher Network. The network name was honoring the state project that brought National Boards to New Mexico in the early 90’s. The network board began with five NBCTs, five officers, and one representative from business, university, and PED. The main purpose of the network was to recruit candidates each year. Since 2002, a lot has changed. Our membership is now well over 600 members with 482 members being NBCTs.
The network board of directors now consists of ten NBCTs representing five regions around the state, partnerships with Businesses, Universities, PED, three committee coordinators, and six officers. Our purpose no longer is just recruitment. It now involves candidate support, NBCT candidate support training, and professional development for teachers, NBCT candidates and NBCTs, advocacy, and partnership recruitment. Our network was renamed at the 2008 conference to better identify our work as The New Mexico National Board Teacher Network. The network continues to evolve and hopes one day all school districts in New Mexico will have established candidate support programs for teachers interested in pursuing National Board Certification.