The portfolio is an assessment tool that assists in assessing a student intern's competence, knowledge, dispositions and performance. It is a collection of artifacts that document the student intern's progress and accomplishments in the teaching field. Portfolios provide the opportunity for students to engage in tasks that are aligned with the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, personally meaningful and situated in real-world experiences.

Portfolio assessment is a valuable tool for the student intern, the cooperating teacher, the college consultant, potential employers and the teacher preparation program. The portfolio provides the student intern with the opportunity to take an active role in their learning, determine if they are meeting the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, and continually reflect on their development and performance as a classroom teacher. The cooperating teacher and college consultant also value the portfolio as it provides the framework for authentic, performance-based assessment, multiple indicators of student progress toward the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards and an opportunity to provide meaningful guidance for student interns. Potential employers value the portfolio as it provides the opportunity for prospective employees to demonstrate performance and skills, showcase artifacts, and communicate their beliefs about teaching. Finally, portfolio assessment is a valuable tool for the teacher preparation program as it provides essential information for program assessment. It also serves as an exit assessment tool for program completers.

Professional Semester Showcase Portfolio
The professional semester is considered the capstone experience of the teacher preparation program. It consists of early experience, methods courses and the student internship. The intern will develop and maintain a portfolio of artifacts and reflections from the professional semester experiences that demonstrate the student intern's ability to achieve the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The portfolio will serve as a catalyst for dialogue about good teaching.

The Showcase Portfolio Presentation
Each student will be required to prepare a final portfolio for oral presentation to cooperating teachers and college consultants. School administrators, college advisors, as well as other professors or teachers may be invited to attend the showcase portfolio presentation. The presentation will be 20 to 25 minutes in length. It is appropriate for the student intern to give a brief introduction that includes placement information (school demographics, grade, subjects, etc). The presentation should include one artifact from each of the 11 IPTS. The presentation is not a time for the cooperating teachers or college consultants to evaluate the portfolio. The presentation is a time for each student intern to share their experiences and artifacts with peers, advisors, consultants cooperating teachers, members of the Committee on Teacher Education and other stakeholders.

The Showcase Portfolio Evaluation
This portfolio is a showcase of the student's best artifacts for each of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The college consultant and cooperating teacher will evaluate the degree to which the student intern meets the ILPTS. Thus, the evidence should demonstrate the student's competence or growth for each of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. Each artifact must include a written reflection on why that piece was selected and how that artifact shows competence or growth. The majority of the evidence must come from the professional semester while a small portion may come from other experiences that occurred during the candidate's teacher education preparation prior to the professional semester. The final portfolio evaluation should be completed prior to the Showcase Portfolio Presentation. The college consultant and cooperating teaching will provide a final rating for each standard.

Illinois Professional Teaching Standards

• Content Knowledge:
  The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry, and structures of discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make the content meaningful to all students.
• Human Development and Learning:
  The teacher understands how children grow, develop, and learn and provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social and personal development of all students.
• Diversity:
  The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
• Planning for Instruction:
  The teacher understands instructional planning and designs instruction based on knowledge of the discipline, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
• Learning Environment:
  The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
• Instructional Delivery:
  The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
• Communication:
  The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration and supportive interaction in the classroom.
• Assessment:
  The teacher understands various forms of formal and informal assessment strategies and development of all students.
• Collaborative Relationships:
  The teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well being.
• Reflection and Professional Growth:
  The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how choices and actions affect students, parents and other professionals in the learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.
• Professional Conduct:
  The teacher understands education as a profession, maintains standards of professional conduct, and provides leadership to improve student learning and well being.

A detailed description of these standards can be found on pages 14 – 24. This will assist in determining appropriate artifacts for standards.

Guidelines for the Student Intern Showcase Portfolio

• The Illinois Professional Teaching Standards (ILPTS) must be reflected throughout the portfolio.
• The portfolio must be manageable (size, student time, complexity, and evaluation time).
• The portfolio should reflect the personal strengths of the student compiling the portfolio.
• There should be a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of five (5) artifacts within each of the ILPTS in the portfolio.
• Candidates are expected to draw on as many of their experiences as possible.
• A single artifact may address more than one standard. However, a separate rationale for the artifact must be provided for each ILPTS.
• It is assumed that the final version of showcase portfolio which will be evaluated and presented will demonstrate the highest possible level of student competency.
• Teacher education candidates are required to obtain permission from the school and / or district regarding permission to include photographs, videotapes, and / or samples of student work.
• Written items should be computer generated, error free, and grammatically correct.
• A rationale, which includes a description of the artifact, analysis of the artifact, and reflection on progress toward the standard, is required for each artifact included in the portfolio (Please see the following page for descriptions of these components).

Organizing Your Portfolio
Students will organize their portfolio using the Professional Internship Portfolio Template in Livetext. The “pages” of portfolio use the following menu. The sections within each of the pages may be redesigned to fit the student's individual style. However, the student intern must include all aspects of the rational for each artifact you include (See page 9 a description of the rational).

• Introduction
• Credentials
• Placement Profile
• Pre – Reflection
• Early Experience
• IPTS 1 – Content Knowledge
• IPTS 2 – Human Development and Learning
• IPTS 3 – Diversity
• IPTS 4 – Planning for Instruction
• IPTS 5 – Learning Environment
• IPTS 6 – Instructional Delivery
• IPTS 7 – Communication
• IPTS 8 – Assessment
• IPTS 9 – Collaborative Relationships
• IPTS 10 – Reflection and Professional Growth
• IPTS 11 – Professional Conduct
• Post Reflection
• Professional Development Plan

Descriptors of Rationale Components

• Heading: Identify the standard by title and number.
  - Identify the performance indicators.
  - Identify the artifact.
• Content Description: In two or three concise sentences, describe how information in the artifact that you provided demonstrates evidence 0f meeting the specific standard.
• Analysis: In one or two paragraphs, analyze the strengths of this evidence and the areas to improve. Provide precise examples and note their relation to the performance indicators for the specific standard you are addressing.
• Reflection: Given what you have included in your analysis, reflect on how this evidence is indicative of your professional growth and development toward meeting the particular standard. Include implications of planning for future teaching in several different areas.

Evaluation
The assessment system for the teacher education program at Greenville College includes both formative and summative evaluation data. The formative evaluation guidelines provide suggested conference times for the cooperating teacher and student intern. The summative evaluation is completed once the student intern has completed the portfolio.

Formative Evaluation Guidelines
The formative evaluation tool for the student intern portfolio is found on page 12. The cooperating teacher and consultant will receive several copies of this tool to assist them in the evaluation process. This tool will assess the student's understanding of each standard and the student's ability to implement the standard in the classroom. The rubric provides descriptors for exceptional, proficient, satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance. This should assist those using the tool in determining the level of performance for the student intern. This tool is applicable for Pre-K through 12 student internship placements.

The cooperating teacher will meet with the student intern frequently throughout the internship to have an ongoing dialogue and feedback during portfolio conferences. These conferences should occur every three to four weeks, depending on the length of the placement, at pre-determined times. The student intern and/or cooperating teacher may request that the college consultant participate in the conference. The college consultant can request to view the portfolio during a supervisory visit. It is the student intern's responsibility to have the portfolio available and prepared.

Prior to the conference all evaluations, portfolio contents, and other materials should be reviewed. The participants will determine which standards will be addressed during the conference. The first conference may include three or four of the standards. The conferences that follow should address additional standards until all standards are reviewed. Each conference participant evaluates the progress of the standards being addressed. During the conference, the participants share and compare notes and observations for the addressed standards. Considerations for improvements and goals are then discussed. After the conference, student intern should utilize the information gathered and establish a plan to work on the weekly goals.

The following schedule provides suggested portfolio conferences to assist the student intern and cooperating teacher:

Student Internship Length Suggested Portfolio Conferences

• 8 weeks - Weeks 3, 5, and 7


• 10 weeks - Weeks 3, 6 and 8


• 16 weeks - Weeks 3, 7, 11 and 15

Please complete a formative evaluation form for each portfolio conference. The cooperating teacher should keep a copy, give a copy to the student and forward a copy to the education office after each portfolio conference.

Levels of Performance

EXCEPTIONAL:
Potential to be an exemplary first year teacher. Outstanding ability to create an environment that promotes cooperation and responsibility, supports self-worth, affirms the dignity of each student and stimulates learning.

PROFICIENT:
Potential to be an exemplary teacher with more experience and mentoring. Demonstrates clear understanding of the components. Convincingly and consistently implements the component.

SATISFACTORY:
Mentoring and experience to assist in additional development of skills will be necessary in order for the intern to be successful in the classroom. Student intern demonstrates a basic understanding of the component and attempts implementation of the elements. Implementation component is not consistently implemented or not always successful.

UNSATISFACTORY:
Teacher Certification is denied. Student intern does not demonstrate an understanding of the component. Student intern will need to focus on strengthening his/her fundamental understanding and implementation of the component.

Cooperative Teacher Portfolio Handbook (209 KB .pdf)