MTNA Certification

The MTNA Professional Certification program exists for teachers who teach music to students of any age level in private or group settings. The program is based upon a set of five standards defining what a competent music teacher should know and be able to do. Upon fulfillment of these standards, applicants are granted the MTNA Professional Certification credential with the designation, Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM). The credential and designation are granted without bias, discrimination, or favoritism between MTNA members and/or non-members or any other arbitrary differentiation. In order to maintain the MTNA Professional Certification credential and designation, NCTM must continue fulfilling the program's standards through the renewal process.

The MTNA Professional Certification program is objectively administered in a uniform manner to ensure fairness, accuracy, validity, and integrity. Due process for reconsideration and reinstatement is included in the program for certification candidates, renewal candidates, and for those who already hold the MTNA Professional Certification credential.

Certification provides benefits to music teachers

* encouraging improvement in teaching through continuous self-study and planning

* raising the likelihood for a higher level of competency and effectiveness

* providing a goal for personal professional achievement

* increasing the potential for earning power

* improving the level of professionalism within the field of music teaching

* identifying competent music teachers for the public.

Certification benefits the music profession

* fostering excellence in music education through the development of criteria, standards, and guidelines for assessing educational competencies in performance, music theory, music history/literature, and pedagogy/teacher education

* assuring the educational community, the general public, and other agencies or organizations that the MTNA Professional Certification Program for music teachers has been clearly defined with appropriate standards

* providing a national forum for the discussion and consideration of concerns relevant to the preservation and advancement of standards in the field of music and music education

* developing a national unity and strength for the purpose of maintaining the position of music study in the family of fine arts and humanities and providing qualified teachers to guide that study

* setting a uniform national minimum standard of achievement without restricting the development of new ideas, experimentation, or the expansion of personal standards

Certification benefits the community

* validating an individual's qualifications for a specific field of professional practice

* demonstrating to employers, clients, and peers that which the individual knows and is able to do

* signifying commitment to continued excellence in professional practice

Learn more about MTNA Certification.

Download MTNA Certification Standards (PDF)

Visit the MTNA Certification Website: www.mtnacertification.org/home.htm

More Information is available from...

Alaska State Certification Chair (2006-2008)
Timothy Smith, NCTM
aftcs@uaa.alaska.edu

Northwest Division National Certification Commissioner (NCC)
Deborah Wallace, NCTM
208-585-2733 or wallace@velocitus.net
P.O. Box 14
Middleton, ID 83644

MTNA Certification Officer
Melissa Curtice
513-421-1420 ext. 237 or mcurtice@mtna.org