To be eligible for certification, leaders must meet the following education and employment requirements prior to starting the certification process. Candidates will be asked to verify these during registration.

• Possess a high school diploma / GED, or equivalent. 
• Effective September 19, 2022, the National Board will open access to leaders interested in the Board certification process by allowing candidates to begin the process of Board certification before completing three (3) years of successful leadership experience. While this change allows candidates to begin the process earlier, leaders will need to complete three years of employment in a leadership role prior to becoming board-certified.

The certification process is designed to collect standards-based evidence of accomplished practice. Candidates are required to complete an assessment that includes four components. The content knowledge component is an oral exam taken virtually online; the other three are portfolio-based and submitted through an electronic portfolio system.

• COMPONENT 1: CONTENT KNOWLEDGE. A computer-based live-virtual assessment asks you to demonstrate understanding of content knowledge and practices in leadership.  You must demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate content, which is necessary for leading across a full range of industries.
• COMPONENT 2: DEMONSTRATE GROWTH. This portfolio entry requires that candidates gather and analyze information about their individual strengths and weaknesses in leadership and use that information to design instruction that would help someone to overcome those same challenges and capitalize on their strengths.
• COMPONENT 3: LEADERSHIP PRACTICE AND ENVIRONEMNT. This portfolio entry requires video recording of interactions between you and junior leaders. You will also submit written commentary in which you describe, analyze and reflect on your leadership interactions with your peers and junior leaders.
• COMPONENT 4: EFFECTIVE AND REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER. This portfolio entry requires you to demonstrate evidence of your abilities as an effective and reflective practitioner in developing others, your use of assessments and effectively planning for and positively impacting your peers and junior leaders to grow.

Our timeline makes it easy to get certified. The four components can be submitted in any order. Candidates can complete from one to four components a year.

Candidates must submit all four components within the one year of their candidacy. While it is possible to complete the process in as little as four months, there is a one-year window to achieve certification.

The scoring system is an indication of the degree to which assessors are able to locate clear, consistent and convincing evidence that a candidate has met the National Board Standards in the specific field.

Measurement experts rate National Board assessor reliability among the highest reported for such a complex performance assessment, which is a direct result of the focused and rigorous training National Board assessors undergo.

Of all leaders receiving a certification decision since 2015, the year the National Board revised its assessment, 80% earned the National Board Certified Leader designation. The cumulative certification rate includes leaders who received a certification decision after receiving scores on all four of the assessment’s components.