Candidates for degrees in teacher education, counseling, and educational administration are required to develop an assessment portfolio over the course of their academic program. Aligned with national professional standards and the expectations of Canisius graduates, it will provide you with the opportunity to reflect upon your knowledge and skills in order to improve, and allow the faculty to assess your progress.
Here are a few terms to help you understand the portfolio process.
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Artifact |
An assignment completed in a class that you save for your portfolio. |
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Interstate New Teachers Assessment and Support Consortium standards for new teachers. The INTASC Standards can be found here along with the INSTAC Cover Sheets! | |
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Program Portfolio |
Set of assignments you are required to keep for the college and reflect upon to demonstrate successful progress through the program. |
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Particular class in the program where you progress is checked. Certain requirements must be met in order for you to advance in the program. | |
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Showcase
Portfolio |
Personalized portfolio you may use to help get a job after graduation. |
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A page generated by you linking an assignment you have done with the INTASC standards and your own growth as a teacher candidate. | |
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Portfolio Table of Contents |
Listing of the assignments that will go into your portfolio aligned with the INTASC Standards. |
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An electronic portfolio package that allows candidates to submit common assignments and reflections electronically. This is required in certain courses in some programs. |
Click the link below for a printable version of the
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The table of contents shows the assignments that you will need to include in your portfolio. There is a different table of contents for each set of certification areas (all links open in MS Word) early childhood, early childhood/childhood, childhood, early childhood/special education, childhood/special education, adolescence, or physical education). Make sure you are following the correct table of contents. These have been updated for Fall 2007.
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The integrated portfolio reflection, a 3-5 page reflection, will be written by each candidate at designated portfolio checkpoints to provide an opportunity to reflect on the work included in the assessment portfolio. The reflection describes how the common assignments and field experiences demonstrate the candidate’s progress in meeting INTASC Standards.
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Wondering what happened to the one page reflection for each artifact? Click here for the answer to that question and many other frequently asked questions!
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Your integrated portfolio reflection will be scored on a rubric (MS Word Document) by your professor. In order to pass the Transition Point, candidates must meet the ACCEPTABLE or TARGET level in each area.
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Your portfolio will be checked by your professors at the completion of particular courses in your program. At these times, you will need to demonstrate required competencies in order to progress to the next stage of the program at Transition Checkpoints (MS Word Document). A minimum GPA and other requirements are checked. Also at this time, each item in your portfolio receives a score of 1-6 based on the original scoring of the assignment, using the Portfolio Artifact Rubric. This rubric reveals that a score of 3 means that that item originally earned 75-79% of points allotted for that assignment. You must have a minimum average score of three on the artifacts (assignments) in your portfolio and in your portfolio at each transition point check.
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If you do not meet any of the criteria at a transition point, the faculty member conducting the portfolio check will complete a Candidate Concerns Report. A faculty committee will then meet with you to generate a remediation plan detailed in the Contract for Candidate Remediation (MS Word Document).
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TaskStream is an electronic portfolio package that allows candidates to submit common assignments and reflections electronically. Faculty score these on-line, and scores are available for data analysis purposes. TaskStream also includes a valuable set of teacher tools including a Standards Wizard, a Lesson Plan Builder, and a Rubric Wizard. To purchase your TaskStream account click here!
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When you sign up for your TaskStream account, you will need to enroll yourself in the program appropriate for your major. Click here for the self-enrollment instructions.
THE FORMAT FOR YOUR PAPER PORTFOLIO
- Cover page (name, major, and current transition point)
- Transition Point Checklist (Appendix C)
- Portfolio Table of Contents (Appendix B)
- Early Childhood
- Early Childhood/Childhood
- Childhood
- Early Childhood/Special Education
- Childhood/Special Education
- Adolescence
- Physical Education
- Your unofficial transcript- Link to Login
- Your LAST Score or registration confirmation
- Your Evaluation Summary form Taskstream (Print out from Tab 5-Submission and Evaluation)
- A section for each of the ten INTASC Standards. Print out these cover sheets listing the INTASC Standard. Place your assignments in the notebook behind the proper Standard. The field experience evaluations will go behind INTASC Standard 10.
- Your integrated portfolio reflections from Transition Points II and III.
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Photos make an impression! Get permission from families to use photographs of students.
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Include captions that refer to your teaching abilities. You should be in the photos too!
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Show off your technology skills in your portfolio. Word process everything.
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Include student work to demonstrate your teaching effectiveness (remove student names).
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Don't include worksheets you did not create, the portfolio is a place to demonstrate your work.
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Many people find that a three-ring binder with plastic page protectors and extra-wide dividers works well for the paper portfolio.
A portfolio tells a story. It is the story of knowing. Knowing about things... Knowing oneself... Knowing an audience... " (Pearl & Leon Paulson)