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Two fingertips wiped away the tear that had started to slide down the novice teacher鈥檚 cheek as she laid her frustrations at the feet of the workshop leader, classroom veteran and nationally certified teacher Mary Reed.

All the 1st grade teachers at the beginner鈥檚 school were new like herself, she explained, as was the teacher in the media center. Some of her pupils couldn鈥檛 yet write their names, and one parent had already barged into her classroom without a visitor鈥檚 pass, refusing to leave. The neophyte didn鈥檛 even know if the school was supposed to have a reading coach to help her.

But this painful exchange was as much why Mary Reed had volunteered on a Saturday at the National Board Certified Teachers of Miami-Dade鈥檚 new-teacher conference as was the framework for beginning reading she had just outlined.

The new-teacher conference is one of numerous enterprises the NBCTs of Miami-Dade has undertaken since it formed more than three years ago, apparently becoming the nation鈥檚 only group of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to have raised money for its own activities as an incorporated nonprofit organization.

The group鈥檚 intention was to bring such teachers to the fore of the school improvement agenda in the nation鈥檚 fourth-largest school district. It works to promote national certification, raise teacher quality, and give teachers a voice in education. About 300 of the district鈥檚 almost 800 nationally certified teachers currently pay dues to the group.

Rising Star

The group鈥檚 star has risen higher in the past year or so because of changes in the 362,000-student Miami-Dade County system and the union that represents the district鈥檚 20,000 teachers. Superintendent Rudolph F. Crew signaled his interest in the NBCTs almost from the start of his tenure a year ago, meeting with two of the group鈥檚 leaders in October.

As a result, the teachers are now sought out to provide professional development in the district鈥檚 lowest-performing schools and for its beginning teachers.

For its part, United Teachers of Dade underwent a major shake-up starting in 2003 after a financial scandal brought down its longtime president. Administrators named by the union鈥檚 national parents, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, put new emphasis on professional concerns, giving the UTD more reason to support the work of the NBCTs.

In sharp contrast to three years ago, when neither the district nor the union would provide a list of new teachers to the NBCTs group for its new-teacher conference, the Aug. 20 event was sponsored by the district and the union. As in past years, the conference was underwritten by Washington Mutual, a bank with headquarters in Seattle but a strong presence in Florida.

In fact, money from Washington Mutual and other help from the local Education Fund, an independent, nonprofit group that raises money to support public schools in Miami-Dade, made the start-up of the NBCTs possible. So far, the bank has put about $90,000 into the group鈥檚 work, according to Ramon L. Rodriguez, the corporate-giving-fund manager for the bank鈥檚 Southeast office.

The Arlington, Va.-based national board was started in 1987 as a way to challenge and reward accomplished teachers, who must show their mettle by passing a series of assessments, including videotapes of teaching and analysis of classroom learning.

Moving to 鈥榯he Zone鈥�

Linda Lecht, the president of the Education Fund, said it鈥檚 hard to overestimate the long-term influence of the local group on the culture of the district and its teachers.

鈥淭heir message is, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to take an active and assertive role in doing what should be done for all the children in the district.鈥� 鈥� They are changing the dynamics of the discussion by being the ones to champion teacher quality,鈥� Ms. Lecht said.

The Education Fund turned to the NBCTs group to advance a project that helps teachers do research in their own classrooms and schools, then use the findings to weigh in on policymaking. An earlier effort languished, but this one, which involves Jill Beloff Farrell, an education professor who specializes in 鈥渁ction research鈥� at Barry University in Miami Shores, is moving forward.

Now, board-certified teachers from the group sit on advisory committees at the university, and the new head of professional development for the district wants to encourage such classroom research for experienced teachers throughout Miami-Dade County.

鈥淚鈥檝e always felt NBCTs were an untapped wealth,鈥� said Eva G. Byrne, who started her job as the deputy superintendent for professional development in the Miami-Dade district last winter. 鈥淟ori Nazareno was one of the first people I met when I started,鈥� she said, referring to the group鈥檚 president, 鈥渁nd I said we need to build on鈥� what the NBCTs group was already doing.

When district leaders grouped the 39 schools needing the most progress into a 鈥渟chool improvement zone鈥� in the middle of last school year and gave them additional resources, they made a direct pitch to the NBCTs group for accomplished teachers to move to those schools. The few who did included Ms. Nazareno and two other board-certified teachers who have been active in the group. They joined another teacher with the national credential at a school with what they viewed as a simpatico principal.

Allies Needed

Teachers with the credential in Florida get a salary boost of 10 percent of the previous year鈥檚 average teacher salary and another 10 percent if they spend 90 hours mentoring beginning teachers. In addition, teachers in 鈥渢he zone鈥� get a salary hike for the extra hours the schools operate. But there is nothing more for board-certified teachers who make the move, except chances for leadership in schools where principals appreciate their skills.

鈥淲hat are the reasonable and logical ways to get accomplished teachers into hard-to-staff schools? We haven鈥檛 gotten so far as to have that discussion,鈥� said Ms. Nazareno, who went from teaching science at an alternative high school to teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade science at Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Opa Locka. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a complex problem that requires a complex solution.鈥�

Nonetheless, hopes are high inside and outside the district for fruitful collaboration by the NBCTs group, the district, and the union.

Barnett Berry, the president of the Center for Teaching Quality in Chapel Hill, N.C., who has been tracking the uses to which board-certified teachers are being put nationally, calls the growing role of the Miami-Dade group 鈥渁 bold, important step for the teaching profession.鈥�

At the same time, he cautioned, the group is going to need 鈥渓ots of allies and someone whose job 24-7 is to make this happen.鈥�

Back at the workshop, Ms. Reed, the nationally certified teacher, has pledged to find her anxious young colleague some help, but she is also urging her to turn to the other newbies in her school.

鈥淵ou do have each other,鈥� the veteran soothes. 鈥淎sk, 鈥楧o you have this problem? Do you have any ideas.鈥� You are going to do fine.鈥�