About the Virginia NBCT Network
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was created in 1987 to advance accomplished teaching for all students.
The Virginia NBCT Network was launched in 2016 to promote accomplished teaching across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Virginia NBCT Network
1. Provides a structure for National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) to gather and share information.
2. Advocates for the advancement of teaching and learning in all Virginia schools.
3. Ethically supports candidates seeking National Board Certification.
4. Grows an interactive professional network anchored in the principles, standards, and practices of the NBPTS.
5. Increases the diversity of teachers pursuing and attaining National Board Certification.
Who We Are
Nancy Winter Traynor, NBCT
Vice-Chair
Originally from the Adirondacks of New York State, Nancy Winter Traynor has taught mathematics in New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and Chesapeake, VA. She was the mathematics department head at Hickory High School in Chesapeake until her retirement in 2011. Having already been an adjunct instructor at Virginia Wesleyan University, she then became a Supervisor of preservice teachers there until 2016. In 1997 she earned National Board Certification in AYA Mathematics, being the first teacher in the Tidewater area to do so. From the beginning, Nancy has been involved with supporting candidates and advocating for the value of the National Board process in its impact on student learning and teacher professional growth.
Dr. Ann Ifekwunigwe, NBCT
Chair
Dr. Ifekwunigwe, who was born in Nigeria and raised in California, is a National Board Certified Teacher (Early Childhood Generalist), twice renewed, and was the co-director of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Project at UCLA for five years. She has been a scholar at the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and has worked in the United States Senate as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow.
As a Presidential Fellow, she earned a Doctorate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Ifekwunigwe has lived in Virginia for more than a dozen years and has held leadership positions in school systems ranging in size from 5,000 to 30,000. In 2022, Dr. Ifekwunigwe accepted a position at Richard Bland College of William & Mary and delights in working to expand options, pathways, and opportunities for students to attain 4-year degrees.
Dr. Ifekwunigwe holds a bachelor's degree in human development from UC Riverside; a master's in education from UCLA; a master's in administration from Pepperdine University; a master's in education policy and management from Harvard; an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT; and earned endorsement in Gifted Education at the University of Virginia.
Gwendolyn Nixon, NBCT
Co-Secretary
Ms. Gwendolyn Nixon currently teaches AP Language and Composition, AP Literature and Composition and Seminar in Richmond Public schools; she earned National Board Certification in AYA ELA in 2021; she is a recent Yale Fellow and a current REB winner, traveling to South Africa and Maine to study Environmental Justice. She is passionate about youth advocacy and she has a strong commitment to student excellence that has the potential to change the trajectory of their lives, just as her mentors impacted and changed her life.
Rachel Attenberger, NBCT
Co-Secretary
Rachel Attenberger is originally from Newark Delaware. After graduating from the University of Delaware, she moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to teach Early Childhood Special Education. She achieved her National Board Certification in 2021 as an Early Childhood Generalist and relocated to Richmond, Virginia that same year. Currently teaching early childhood special education at Richmond Public Schools, Rachel has remained passionate about advancing equity in early childhood education and implementing high-quality inclusive practices in early childhood classrooms.
Treasurer
Interim Officer
Public Relations
Vacant
