I was chatting with a coworker yesterday, and I asked her how all of her NBC submission stuff went in May. She said, “I’m sure I’ll have to resubmit something. They hate me!”

I was completely caught off-guard by this response. Was she kidding? She can’t be serious. Is she serious? There’s no way…she’s an amazing teacher!

I said, ‘What you do mean, “They hate you?!?”

(Just for a frame of reference, this teacher submitted components 2 and 3 during the 23/24 school year and completed components 1 and 4 of the Early Adolescence Ages 11-14 ELA Certification during the 24/25 school year). She said that her scores for 2 and 3 were “passing,” but not what she was hoping to to receive. She also shared that during the initial cycle, she submitted portions of her written commentaries to the school district personnel that were specifically trained in editing drafts and providing feedback. She received all positive feedback. I mean, she’s an English teacher. Of course she’s a good writer.

So what happened?

I think the takeaway here is that just because you are a good writer, doesn’t mean that you are giving the NBC scorers what they are looking for. On the flip side, you could be a mediocre writer at best, but if you can be clear, concise and defend your work, then you’re sitting pretty.

This teacher shared that many of the educators that she knows that have had to resubmit their work are ELA teachers. I have no facts to back that up, but I can potentially see how English teachers could be too “fluffy” and wordy.

Bottom Line is…

Get to the point.

There will be times when you have to edit your self because you could jut go on and on, and there will be times when you feel like you are writing the same thing over and over again because the questions seem so repetitive. You will feel like you haven’t written enough.

The best strategy for success is to answer each prompt as directly as you can with documented evidence. I have created Component 2 written commentary sentence starters for 27 certification areas and have also created multiple resources to help you write Component 3 and Component 4 . Let’s be real. You don’t want to have to resubmit because you did “too much” or “too little.”

The resources that I have created frame your thoughts and point you in the right direction. Because when you hit that submit button, you want to know it was done right…the first time.