Candidate Performance Portfolio - Educational Administration

This portion of the handbook is designed to assist candidates in developing a professional portfolio. Portfolios are required of every educational administration candidate. Portfolios will be used as an exit requirement for the PUC Educational Administration program.

Within this handbook, answers to the following questions will be addressed:

• What is the background of professional portfolios?
• What is a professional portfolio?
• What are the benefits of a professional portfolio?
• How will the portfolio relate to the School of Education’s graduate programs?
• How will the portfolio be organized?
• Schedule for entries

Background of Portfolios and School Leadership

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) originally fostered the idea of using professional portfolios as a means of assessing and granting National Board status for teachers based on performance. This work first looked at identifying what it is to be an effective teacher — no small task by far. Feedback from teachers and other educators further helped to create a substantial framework, using five core areas of assessment as a means to guide the teaching profession. These NBPTS standards measure a teacher’s practice using portfolios, classroom videos, and candidate work samples as a means to analyze classroom teaching and student learning. In addition to the performance-based assessments, teachers also complete written exercises intended to test their content knowledge and understanding.

Using the NBPTS standards as a guide, the Educational Leadership Constituents Council (ELCC) initiative prompted individual states to begin similar performance-based assessments of school administrators.  Established in 1994 and now no longer active, the ELCC was a consortium of 45 different agencies vested in education and educational administration, each working cooperatively to establish an assessment and policy framework for school leaders. They based their vision of leadership on the belief that the standards for a school leader’s practice must be bound in an understanding of teaching and learning. Using the ELCC guidelines, individual states worked together to develop model standards, assessments, professional development, and licensing procedures, thus effectively helping to produce and train better, more capable, educational administrators.  Indiana was among the lead states in this visionary initiative.

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What is a Professional Portfolio?

Purdue University Calumet believes that effective school leaders must be able to demonstrate their knowledges', skills and dispositions (attitudes) through a collection of artifacts organized into a professional portfolio.  In addition to artifacts, reflection narratives must be included in which the candidate writes about how he/she demonstrated a particular ELCC standard through professional experience. The portfolio at PUC is designed to lead the candidate from a beginning level of attainment of the ELCC standards to an emerging level by the time he/she reaches graduation.  Each course in the PUC program provides an opportunity for the candidate to create a portfolio entry.  By the time the candidate is ready to graduate, she/he has a complete professional portfolio.

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What Are the Benefits of a Professional Portfolio?

It is the intent of the PUC Educational Administration Program to provide candidates with many opportunities to reflect on their professional experiences and set goals for their future development. Portfolios provide one avenue for this reflective growth.

A Professional Portfolio can benefit educational administration candidates by:

• Encouraging professional pride by providing a place to organize and display an individual's accomplishments
• Providing a personally meaningful account of knowledge and skills
• Serving as a professional resource throughout the education program
• Providing strategies for implementing portfolios for future licensure/licensure
• Encouraging reflection on professional and personal development
• Providing a means for clearly communicating professional and personal assets
• Providing a concrete reference for use during job interviews

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How Will the Portfolio Relate to the School of Education’s Graduate Programs?

The professional portfolio is designed so that it directly links with the conceptual framework adopted by the School of Education. This framework guides all of the School of Education’s programs, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and reflects the themes of creating knowledge, developing practice, and fostering relationships.

The conceptual framework was used as the guiding document when preparing standards for each of the School of Education’s programs. These standards are to be directly linked to candidates’ performance in their portfolios. Standards have been developed that reflect (1) general core knowledge (General Standards) for all graduate students, and (2) individual Program Area Standards.

1. ALL education graduate students are expected to demonstrate that they have met standards in each of the following General Standards (these standards are also integrated into the undergraduate education program portfolios):
   
   Instructional Uses of Technology (practice)
   Individuals with Special Needs (practice)
   Diversity (practice)
   Written Communication (practice)
   Educational Research (theory)
   Community Collaboration (relationship)
   Content Knowledge (theory and practice)
   (See sample entries)
   
2. In addition, standards have been developed for each program area including Educational Administration. Graduate candidates are therefore expected to demonstrate proficiency in their program area in addition to the seven General Standards. For example, a candidate in Educational Administration would include six separate entries in his/her General Standards portion of the portfolio, and an additional six entries for the Program Area Standards in Administration.

Every effort has been made in the development of graduate professional portfolios to provide connections between programs and the goals of the School of Education. In summary, these connections include:

A conceptual framework that connects all aspects of the School of Education’s programs

A set of seven (7) graduate-level General Standards that connect to the conceptual framework and undergraduate portfolio requirements

Program Area Standards that link to the conceptual framework and the goals of individual programs.  For educational administration, the ELCC Standards are used.

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Portfolio Organization and Review

In the past, portfolios have been submitted in one of several forms – divided notebook, accordion file folder system, computer disk.  However, the demands of the marketplace and of accreditation entities have shifted the focus to that of e-portfolios.  Therefore, beginning with students who have entered the educational administration program in fall of 2004, portfolios will be submitted only online.  Students previously enrolled in the program may continue to submit portfolios according to past instructions, but it is recommended that they, also, switch to e-portfolios.  For them, such a switch will be voluntary and we will post directions on this website.  Students just beginning in the program will receive their instruction in their administration classes.  Increasingly, if a candidate wishes to be employable, an e-portfolio will become a necessity. Each candidate will be required to use the online portfolio system known as TaskStream (http://www.taskstream.com).

However portfolios are housed, they are most effective and useful when they are organized. Regardless of the filing system, it is required that a Table of Contents be used. Candidates must also include an informational data sheet (e.g., name, address, phone numbers) or a resume at the beginning of the portfolio.  The value of portfolios is that they can reflect individuality; to be most useful, however, clear organization must be considered.

The bulk of the professional portfolio will be the individual entries. ALL graduate students are required to demonstrate proficiency in the following General Standards by including at least one separate entry for EACH standard:

• Instructional Uses of Technology
• Individuals with Special Needs
• Multi-Cultural and Gender Issues
• Written Communication
• Educational Research
• Community Collaboration
• Knowledge Base

In addition, candidates are required to demonstrate proficiency in the standards developed for their Program Area – Educational Administration. Therefore, all educational administration graduate candidates will have separate entries for each of the seven (7) General Standards, in addition to separate entries for each of the six (6) Program Standards. (See the ELCC Standards)

Because of the importance of individuality in portfolio preparation and reflection, specific types of entries for each standard are not mandated. However, each course in educational administration has components that lead the candidate to good choices of artifacts.

When choosing and organizing entries, the following should be considered:

• The development and use of video and audio recordings and computer programming are encouraged. Written transcripts, computer screen dumps, printouts, and/or descriptions of these materials can be included within the portfolio.
• The portfolio may include photographs and sketches of entries such as learning centers, instructional materials or artifacts showing leadership as a teacher.
• Candidates have the option of including either selections containing instructors' comments and evaluations or edited entries without this feedback.
• Portfolio entries cannot overlap; for example, a selection cannot be counted within multiple entry standards

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PORTFOLIO ENTRY SCHEDULE

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