SETTING THE EXPECTATIONS: GETTING STARTED WITH DIGITAL PORTFOLIOS

Ann Croft, an Ideas Consulting school coach and portfolio coordinator at Burrillville High School, leads a discussion with Providence Teachers on getting started with portfolios

Digital Portfolios help students show how they are meeting high standards -- and are terrific tools for showing growth over time. But how do we get started? At our recent workshops, we saw how a little preparation can go a long way.

Getting started with digital portfolios means more than learning how to use the software. For most schools, our initial workshop begins by asking the essential question, "What should a student know and be able to do?" At a session for the high schools in Providence, RI, teachers reviewed new district and state standards, and identified which made the most sense to be displayed in the portfolio. This provided a vision of what a completed portfolio ultimately will contain.

This vision provides the long-term goal, and can help schools get the most out of a pilot year. It's also important, though, to get started quickly.

In the short term, the initial goal is much more modest: introducing teachers and students to collecting, selecting, and reflecting. At Cumberland High School, a pilot group of teachers from across the curriculum spent a half day reviewing tasks, and identifying one piece of work that could go into the portfolio. Meanwhile, at East Greenwich High School, parents were invited to evening sessions where they were introduced to the concept of portfolios, and how it fits in the school's structures.

For teachers, a good starting point is identifying a "portfolio worthy" task. At New Heights, a new elementary charter school in Los Angeles, the teachers examined their first units from the year, and decided what pieces to collect. The teachers chose writing samples, presentations, and other items that will help everyone in the school community understand how students are beginning the school year, and where they need to go.

Schools with experience with alternative assessments can begin at different places. At Boston Arts Academy, teachers are reviewing the rubrics that they are currently using in their assignments, while faculty at the Bronx Guild in New York City and at the “Met� in Providence are starting with the individual learning plans that all students already create.

Setting the expectations can have a long-term payoff. At Ponaganset High School, annual reviews solidify the use of the expectations. Ninth grade reviews help students and teachers both get comfortable with the language, while upper grade students describe how they apply the expectations to their current and future plans.

At Burrillville High School, the expectations were reproduced in a tri-fold brochure. This simple publication helps clarify what students need to demonstrate - and what opportunities teachers need to provide in their assignments.

As students begin working with the portfolio, they can use digital images to make it their own. In some places, students learn how to use the camera by taking pictures of each other. In other places, students don’t use photographs, but find an image that says something about themselves. In either case, the portfolio is transformed from a static document to something much more personal. Developing good portfolios is a long-term project, but any journey begins with a good first step.

Richer Picture Newsletter: Volume 2, Issue 1. Spring/Summer 2007, pp. 1-2.

4/2/2007