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WHS teacher Potter honored by National Board
By Byron Painter
Editor
Williamsville High School science and math teacher Jason Potter recently joined an exclusive club,
becoming a National Board Certified Teacher.
Among those he joined are former Williamsville music teacher Rebecca Finley and junior high art
teacher Linda Post-Lucas.
Potter, in his third year at WHS and 14th year overall, teaches biology and algebra.
He is a graduate of Albion College (1995) and earned his masters at UIS in 2005. This summer, he is
starting a new graduate program through the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in Emerging
Technologies.
A former teacher at Springfield Southeast, Potter was involved in the Teacher Union Reform Network, a
confederation of urban teacher unions studying ways to increase student performance.
National Board certification came up as a proven method to increase teacher performance in urban
schools, Potter noted, and study after study showed that teachers who went through the process of
certification, even if they didn’t make it, had higher performing students than those that didn’t.
School districts and states offered huge salary increases to teachers achieving certification for this
reason, Potter commented.
Despite his work on the reform network, Potter did not give the National Board much thought until he
found out that much of the cost of the process (over $2000) would be covered through a State Board of
Education grant.
But the process was not easy.
“Even though I had learned a lot about National Board certification, I had absolutely no clue the amount
of work involved,” Potter admitted.
The process has two parts: a subject area test and a portfolio.
The subject area test had six questions about biology and the relationship between biology, chemistry
and physics, while the portfolio was a written account of Potter’s teaching practices and required him to
videotape his lessons, describe his teaching practices, develop curriculum and describe how his
interactions with parents and the community help to advance student achievement.
“I also had to provide evidence to prove that my students achieved what I said they did; this included
photocopies of student work,” added Potter, who did most of the work at Southeast.
Each of the portfolios was at least a dozen pages long, and Potter actually ran out of ink and paper while
printing them.
He and a colleague spent two nights poring over the numerous requirements.
After advancing through the arduous process, Potter said he is much more “reflective on my practices
than I used to be, which I think has made me a better teacher.”
And the modest Potter, who did not make a big deal of his honor, found out something else.
“It also humbled me a bit,” he admitted. “Before I went through the process, I was sure that I was a pretty
fantastic teacher.
“As I was putting my portfolio together, I found that I had a lot of room for improvement,” he continued. “I
look at my practice of teaching as evolving, getting a little better each year.”
The process took Potter several years, and he actually did not pass the first time, joining the 60 percent
of teachers who do so.
“I completely bombed one of the six test questions,” said Potter; the topic was on the evolution of non-
seed plants.
You can bank your scores for up to two years, and he had to retake that question, which he put off “until
the last possible minute, last summer.”
But when he found out he passed, last November, he “was relieved.
“I had never failed anything, so I am just glad that I had passed,” he said.
Potter acknowledged he did not want to make a big deal about this honor, because “there are a lot of
really good teachers at WHS, but not all of them have the time and money to go through this process.”
As a newer teacher at WHS, he said, it felt “arrogant and inappropriate to proclaim myself a master
teacher” because “I still have a lot to learn.”
WHS principal Russ Galusha speaks highly of Potter and his efforts with WHS students.
“Mr. Potter encourages student success, and he definitely has the best
interests of his students at heart,” said Galusha. “He is very deserving of this honor.”
District superintendent Dave Root echoed Galusha.
“Teachers who gain National Board Certification are a credit to the profession, have gone above and
beyond for the betterment of our students, and we are proud to have two teachers on our staff who have
achieved this status,” he said. ““Congratulations to both Mrs. Post-Lucas and Mr. Potter for their
achievement in attaining this prestigious certification.”
By Byron Painter
Editor
Williamsville High School science and math teacher Jason Potter recently joined an exclusive club,
becoming a National Board Certified Teacher.
Among those he joined are former Williamsville music teacher Rebecca Finley and junior high art
teacher Linda Post-Lucas.
Potter, in his third year at WHS and 14th year overall, teaches biology and algebra.
He is a graduate of Albion College (1995) and earned his masters at UIS in 2005. This summer, he is
starting a new graduate program through the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in Emerging
Technologies.
A former teacher at Springfield Southeast, Potter was involved in the Teacher Union Reform Network, a
confederation of urban teacher unions studying ways to increase student performance.
National Board certification came up as a proven method to increase teacher performance in urban
schools, Potter noted, and study after study showed that teachers who went through the process of
certification, even if they didn’t make it, had higher performing students than those that didn’t.
School districts and states offered huge salary increases to teachers achieving certification for this
reason, Potter commented.
Despite his work on the reform network, Potter did not give the National Board much thought until he
found out that much of the cost of the process (over $2000) would be covered through a State Board of
Education grant.
But the process was not easy.
“Even though I had learned a lot about National Board certification, I had absolutely no clue the amount
of work involved,” Potter admitted.
The process has two parts: a subject area test and a portfolio.
The subject area test had six questions about biology and the relationship between biology, chemistry
and physics, while the portfolio was a written account of Potter’s teaching practices and required him to
videotape his lessons, describe his teaching practices, develop curriculum and describe how his
interactions with parents and the community help to advance student achievement.
“I also had to provide evidence to prove that my students achieved what I said they did; this included
photocopies of student work,” added Potter, who did most of the work at Southeast.
Each of the portfolios was at least a dozen pages long, and Potter actually ran out of ink and paper while
printing them.
He and a colleague spent two nights poring over the numerous requirements.
After advancing through the arduous process, Potter said he is much more “reflective on my practices
than I used to be, which I think has made me a better teacher.”
And the modest Potter, who did not make a big deal of his honor, found out something else.
“It also humbled me a bit,” he admitted. “Before I went through the process, I was sure that I was a pretty
fantastic teacher.
“As I was putting my portfolio together, I found that I had a lot of room for improvement,” he continued. “I
look at my practice of teaching as evolving, getting a little better each year.”
The process took Potter several years, and he actually did not pass the first time, joining the 60 percent
of teachers who do so.
“I completely bombed one of the six test questions,” said Potter; the topic was on the evolution of non-
seed plants.
You can bank your scores for up to two years, and he had to retake that question, which he put off “until
the last possible minute, last summer.”
But when he found out he passed, last November, he “was relieved.
“I had never failed anything, so I am just glad that I had passed,” he said.
Potter acknowledged he did not want to make a big deal about this honor, because “there are a lot of
really good teachers at WHS, but not all of them have the time and money to go through this process.”
As a newer teacher at WHS, he said, it felt “arrogant and inappropriate to proclaim myself a master
teacher” because “I still have a lot to learn.”
WHS principal Russ Galusha speaks highly of Potter and his efforts with WHS students.
“Mr. Potter encourages student success, and he definitely has the best
interests of his students at heart,” said Galusha. “He is very deserving of this honor.”
District superintendent Dave Root echoed Galusha.
“Teachers who gain National Board Certification are a credit to the profession, have gone above and
beyond for the betterment of our students, and we are proud to have two teachers on our staff who have
achieved this status,” he said. ““Congratulations to both Mrs. Post-Lucas and Mr. Potter for their
achievement in attaining this prestigious certification.”
Issue Date: Feb. 5, 2009