Initiating Portfolios in Your School
Case Study #6
The school for Case Study 6 is one of 7
elementary schools in their district. It's a large district with
approximately 4000 students in K-12. The school has a computer lab which
is shared with an adjoining middle school. Both schools also share a
technology integrator for middle/elementary school, and there is a technology
coordinator for the district. The school has high speed internet access,
and new computers and software in the technology labs.
Table of Contents
1 Purpose
2 Curriculum
3 Requirements
4 Reviewer
5 Assessment
6 Organization
7 Storage
8 Implementation
This case study was contributed by
the following ICT Summer Institute 2006 participants: Deborah Boatwright,
Jannine Farrar, Kathy Olsen, Pam Ross, Jane Ryan, Louise
Stevens
Introduction to
Initiating Portfolios in Your School
When making decisions, you might want to use this simple group decision making process¦
Brainstorm List as many ideas as the group can develop
Clarify Ask questions about ideas on the list for clarification and understanding
Combine Lump similar ideas or strategies into categories
Rank Place the newly formed categories of ideas in order to preference
Discuss Narrow down the list to a few favorite ideas
Agree Come to a consensus on the idea that best suits the team
Remember these important factors when considering ideas and solutions
Educational What is the pedagogy behind this idea?
Functional How does this idea actually work?
Technical What technology or equipment is required for this idea to function properly?
Administrative What are the policies, procedures, and budgets required for this idea to work?
Scenario:
You are in one of 7 elementary schools in your district. It's a large district with approximately 4000 students in K-12. Your school has a computer lab which is shared with an adjoining middle school. You also have a shared technology integrator for your middle/elementary school, and a technology coordinator for the district. Your school has high speed Internet access, and new computers and software in the technology labs.
1. Establish the purpose for the portfolio based on your district's
goals and mission.
The purpose of the portfolios
is to promote an on-going reflective practice of
learning promoting 21st century skills. The portfolios should be
formative, to encourage growth and feedback, and summative, to assess concrete
achievements. Competencies should be demonstrated at each grade level,
culminating at the end of 8th grade.
The e-portfolio will drive
student reflection, educational goal setting, and technology competency.
2. Determine how existing school or district curriculum aligns with
the ICT standards.
The district’s curriculum
aligns with the state GLE/GSE content standards. The NH Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) program standards (Ed 306.42) are integrated
into the district curriculum. Appropriate digital artifacts will be
available for portfolio use. The act of placing the digital artifacts in
the portfolio will meet both content standards and the New Hampshire ICT
digital portfolio standard (Ed 306.42(a)5.
3. Determine the content requirements that will be placed in the
portfolio.
-Introduction home page (All
about me) with a table of contents that is easy to navigate.
1. Autobiography
2. Academics/Reflection -
Math, SS, Science,
3. Interests/Activites
4. Assessments (Standardized
Score)
Digital artifacts could
include: I-Movie, spreadsheets, presentation (e.g. PowerPoint, Inspiration),
word processing documents, sound files, auditory files, digital photographs,
graphic organizers, drawing/painting programs.
4.
Determine the reviewer process for assessing the portfolios.
-Student
Reflection
-Teacher
Assessment - rubric created in advance of the unit
-Technology
Integrator/Library Media Specialist
There is an expectation that collaboration will occur between the
classroom teacher and the technology integrator and library media specialist,
and that the ICT standards and the IL Standards are integrated into the content
areas. Student assessment should occur through written reflection.
5.
Design the assessment rubrics to be used for assessing the portfolios.
Assessment
Rubric The 8th grade
electronic portfolios are evaluated according to the following rubric.
Students are given a copy of the rubric to guide preparation of the portfolio
so they are aware of the criteria in advance. The third column in the rubric
below, "Right on Target" shows what is expected of each student --
the standard. Each criteria is assigned a score
between 1 and 4. These individual criteria scores are totaled to
provide a portfolio score. Determine what range the total portfolio
score falls within. The portfolio total score must be greater than 11
points to meet the district's portfolio requirement. |
|
||||
|
Electronic Scoring Rubric for 8th Grade Portfolio |
|
||||
|
|
Missed the Mark! |
Getting Close! 2 pts. |
Right On Target! 3 pts. |
Bulls Eye!!!
|
|
|
Title Page:
|
Design is inappropriate
|
Design could be neater or might be inappropriate.
|
Design is attractive |
Design is attractive and shows
creativity. |
|
|
Mechanics: |
Spelling and punctuation errors
are numerous. |
Spelling and punctuation errors
are evident. |
Errors in spelling and
punctuation are minor and few. |
There are NO errors in spelling
or punctuation. |
|
|
Links: |
The student portfolio contains 3
or fewer links. |
The student portfolio contains 4
links. |
The student portfolio contains 5
or 6 links. |
The student portfolio contains 7
or more links. |
|
|
Artifact content mastery:
|
Few demonostrate
evidence of subject competency. |
Some
demonstrate evidence of subject competency.
|
Most
demonstrate evidence of subject
competency. |
All demonstrate
evidence of subject competency. |
|
|
Personal reflections toward
artifacts: |
Few
reflections are included and and the personal
reflections are vague or repetitive. |
Some
reflections are included and include minimal personal goal mastery.
|
Most reflections
are included and most show personal goal mastery.
|
All
reflections are included and show exemplary personal goal mastery.
|
|
|
Total Critera
Points: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
6.
Establish the portfolio organizational framework to be used when building the
portfolios.
7.
Establish the method for storage of the portfolio.
Each student's artifacts will be stored in
their own individual network folders on the school district server.
8.
Implement the portfolio generation and assessment process in your school.
§ The district in the beginning stages of
implementation of ICT standards that took effect on
§ Teachers are receiving professional
development in how to digitalize education in order to create
artifacts to be used in the portfolio.
§ New budget requests have been
submitted for district approval to continue funding needs generated by the
implementation of ICT standards.
§ Students will be instructed in the idea of
refection.
§ Students will be encouraged to reflect on
work and save it in a digital format to their network folder.
Timeline
·
June
2005 - ICT Standards passed
·
06-07
- Begin planning, training, and pilot program
·
School
Board - report to school board; alert to financial needs
·
Curriculum
Coordinator - alignment of curriculum to GLE/GSEs and
ICT and IL integration
·
Technology
Coordinator - assess and acquire technology needs; inform learning community of
relevant, available resources
·
Professional
Development - provide training on how to digitize artifacts and use of the
online portfolio managment system
·
Grade
Level Teams - brainstorm ways to transform current projects into digital
artifacts
·
Students
will continue to collect digital artifacts and will be introduced to the idea
of reflection
·
07-08
- Begin implementation
9.
Artifact Rubric
Name:
______________________________
Date: _______________
Class: ________________________________________
|
Skill |
Exceptional |
Effective |
Acceptable |
Unsatisfactory |
|
Content Relevancy |
Presentation is not relevant to content |
Presentation is somewhat relevant to presentation |
Presentation is relevant to content |
Presentation exceeds expectations. |
|
Technology Competency (Use of tools) |
Shows little creativity and basic use of tools |
Shows more creativity and better use of tools |
Shows much creativity and uses a variety of tools |
Exemplary creativity and use of tools. |
|
Organization/ Mechanics |
Several grammar and punctuation errors; layout is very unorganized |
Some grammar and punctuation errors; layout is somewhat unorganized |
Very few grammar and punctuation errors; layout is well organized |
.Flawless grammar and punctuation; organization is exemplary |
|
Personal Reflection |
Lackluster interest in own work. |
Somewhat superficial consideration of personal strengths and weaknesses |
Accurate consideration of personal strengths and weaknesses. |
Excellent evaluation of personal strengths and weaknesses |
Comments:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BELOW THIS
LINE ARE QUESTIONS THAT GUIDED OUR WORK
1 Establish the purpose for
the portfolio based on your district's goals and mission.
The purpose
of our district portfolios is to promote an on-going reflective
practice of learning promoting 21st century skills. The portfolios should be formative, to
encourage growth and feedback, and summative, to assess concrete
achievements. Competencies should be demonstrated at each grade level,
culminating at the end of 8th grade. The competencies can de integrated
into the content and demonstrated in connection with evidence of content
knowledge.
These
questions should be geared toward growth. All of us are works in process. The
difference between student and instructor is that the process speed is probably
much faster in the student’s case. By assigning a self-interview and developing
the necessary skills to complete this assignment you give the student a chance
to take a snapshot of that speedy process.
Dewey
believed that education should be interactive, and should incorporate real life
experiences that students are interested in and can apply to the world outside of
their school (Carter, 29).
Dewey
emphasized in his writing the unquestionable necessity of reflection in
education to improve the process of learning. Dewey described reflection as
"an intentional endeavor to discover specific connections between something
which we do and the consequences which result" (Carter, 28). Carter, Mary.
A Profile of Service Learning Programs in
In light
of your school goals and mission….
What do you think the
purpose of the portfolio should be?
Develop a statement of
purpose, and then answer the following questions to determine what that purpose
should look like.
What type of
Portfolio would you like to create?
·
The
portfolios can be formative in order to improve understanding, and encourage
growth through feedback.
·
The
portfolios can be summative in order to assess concrete achievements to
acknowledge the end of a learning period.
When do you want the ICT competencies
to be demonstrated?
·
The
competencies can be demonstrated by collection of evidence and artifacts
throughout the grade levels.
·
The
competencies can be demonstrated by collection of evidence and artifacts at the
end of the Eighth Grade.
How do you want the ICT
competencies to be demonstrated?
·
The
competencies can be demonstrated as skills separate or in isolation from
content.
·
The
competencies can de integrated into the content and demonstrated in connection
with evidence of content knowledge.
2 Determine how existing school or
district curriculum aligns with the ICT standards.
The district
curriculum aligns with the state GLE/GSE content standards that are aligned to
the ICT and Information Literacy standards, therefore appropriate digital
artifacts are available for portfolio use.
Determine what you already
do in your school that could be used as artifacts for evidence of meeting
competency.
Are there existing
curriculum activities which produce digital artifacts?
Can such artifacts be used
in portfolios?
Are they appropriate to
use?
Are there areas which
deserve more curriculum development?
Are there any areas of
redundancy?
Students in K-3 will have
a network file from which to choose at least one piece of work to reflect upon
and submit to their digital portfolio by the end of each year. Students
in grades 4 and 5 will choose at least one piece of work from each content area
to reflect upon and submit to their portfolio each year including but not
limited to:
Once you have determined
what you already do in your school that could be used as portfolio evidence…
What content
requirements does your school want in the portfolio?
Decide the number of
artifacts to be used in the portfolio, and whether or not that will change with
grade level.
How many artifacts are
necessary and adequate?
Will the number of artifacts
required change as students advance to higher grades?
4 Determine the reviewer process for
assessing the portfolios.
-Student
Assessment
-Teacher
Assessment - rubric created in advance of the unit
-Technology
Integrator/Library Media Specialist
There is an expectation that collaboration will occur between the
classroom teacher and the technology integrator and library media specialist,
and that the ICT standards and the IL Standards are integrated into the content
areas. Student assessment should occur through written reflection.
Now that
you know the content that will be required in the portfolio…
Who will review the
portfolios and how will the assessment be done?
Determine protocols by
which the portfolios will be reviewed and assessed.
Should the content
teachers review the content artifacts?
Should this be done at
each grade level in a formative manner?
How should these reviews
be tracked?
5 Design the assessment rubrics to be
used for assessing the portfolios.
Once the
protocols for review have been established …
What criteria will be
used to assess the completed portfolios?
Develop a rubric or
rubrics which will be used for assessment of the portfolios in your school.
Explain
to your students that, unless they take time to reflect on their experience,
its value for personal growth will be lost. Here is opportunity to share a
personal story or two about learning from your own experiences through
reflection.
Be
certain to emphasize that assessment of reflection is not a judgment of the
student. Explain that you are trying to help the student learn a process. As an
example of how powerful the reflection process can be, you might refer your
students to http://www.storycenter.org/understanding.html
.
Here they will find some wonderful examples of other students reflecting on
their lives. The site might even inspire your students to create their own
digital stories.
A
self-interview will force the reflection process. Typically the art of
reflection grows as we mature. For most of us this is a pretty slow, sometimes
painful, process.
To
help students get an early start, point out that reflection can really be a
dialogue with one’s self. It might help, at this point, to show some classic
dialogs and/or interviews. One idea would be to assign a simple Platonic
dialogue (the Meno). On the other end of the spectrum
would be a more modern interview. Dick Cavett’s
classic television interview with Janis Joplin would be a good example here.
Somewhere in between lies the granddaddy of all self
interviews:
These questions
should be geared toward growth. All of us are works in process. The difference
between student and instructor is that the process speed is probably much
faster in the student’s case. By assigning a self-interview and developing the
necessary skills to complete this assignment you give the student a chance to
take a snapshot of that speedy process.
Dewey believed that
education should be interactive, and should incorporate real life experiences
that students are interested in and can apply to the world outside of their
school (Carter, 29).
Dewey emphasized in
his writing the unquestionable necessity of reflection in education to improve
the process of learning. Dewey described reflection as "an intentional
endeavor to discover specific connections between something which we do and the
consequences which result" (Carter, 28). Carter, Mary. A
Profile of Service Learning Programs in
What kinds of
assessment rubrics will be needed?
What kinds of assessment
rubrics will be needed?
What categories,
descriptors, and levels will be most useful?
SEE ACTUAL CASE STUDY ABOVE for
AN EXAMPLE OF AN ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
6 Establish the portfolio organizational framework to be
used when building the portfolios.
The
elementary school portfolios will be organized by content within the grade level.
Students will have a network folder for all their work. They will
select and upload their chosen work to an on-line portfolio management system,
(i.e. Pupil Pages).
Now that the assessment rubrics have been developed …
What kind of
organization system will be used to generate the portfolios?
Decide on the best way to
organize and present these portfolios for your school.
How will the portfolios be
organized?
·
The
contents of the portfolio can be organized by grade level.
·
The
contents of the portfolio can be organized by content area.
What other organization
elements should be considered?
http://www.pupilpages.com/Students/ViewStudentCategory.aspx?categoryId=37&studentId=173
·
The
portfolios can be organized as individual documents.
·
The
portfolios can be organized using software specific to portfolio generation.
·
The
portfolios can be organized using software not specifically designed to
generate portfolios (i.e., Open Access, Adobe Acrobat, MS Word, MS Power Point,
HTML editors).
When the organizing
framework for the portfolios have been established…
Each student's artifacts
will be stored in their own individual network folders. Selected artifacts
will be uploaded to the outsourced online portfolio management system.
How will the student portfolios be stored by your school?
Develop possible methods
for storing the portfolios created by students.
Which level of storage is
appropriate for your school?
·
Level
1 Each student’s files
are stored on a separate CD.
·
Level
2 Each student’s files
are stored in a separate folder on the school server. The portfolio can be
created as a folder within the student’s larger folder.
·
Level
3 Each student has a
login to an online portfolio management system.
Are there other methods
which would work better for your school?
District #2 is in the
beginning stages of implementation of ICT standards set forth in June,
2005. Teachers are receiving professional development in how to
digitalize education in order to create artifacts to be used in the
portfolio. New budget requests have been submitted
for district approval to continue funding needs generated by the implementation
of ICT standards.
Now that you got the portfolio process solved¦
§
June
2005 - ICT Standards passed
§
06-07
- Begin planning, training, and pilot program
School Board - report to school board; alert to financial
needs
When should we start using
the portfolio program in our school?
Think about a timeline
that makes sense for your school. And who in your school can help you get the
ball rolling!
Good luck!