Home School Portfolios and Records
·
Appearances are
critical: a good looking and thorough portfolio puts the government worker at
ease and in a positive frame of reference.
o
South Carolina is
a very welcoming state; other states have stricter requirements and these must
be considered if you ever relocate.
·
A portfolio is
made of samples from the student’s work with a goal to display his or her
knowledge.
·
It can be helpful
to include a written blurb about portions of your student’s work and what goal
that sample represents.
·
They should be
organized with attention to details:
o
A well organized
portfolio shows academic growth when reviewed from beginning to end.
o
It should include
any items that impact your student’s ability to learn, i.e. auditory or
attention deficit.
·
Whenever possible,
“triangulate” groups of information to corroborate each other—especially if a
student is either advanced or struggling with a portion of the schooling.
Provide samples that show progress to advanced levels or the process through
tough sections.
·
A good portfolio
can be reviewed by the teacher to identify weak spots and strong spots and can
be used as a road map to launch into a new school year.
·
There are two
kinds of portfolios:
o
1. The Working
portfolio is for large amounts of information and paperwork from your student,
placed in an organized storage system
o
2. The Formative
portfolio is selections from the ‘working’ portfolio that provide a “snapshot”
of the student’s learning. It should include a Summative assessment at the end
of the portfolio describing the student’s overall progress.