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Research to Practice

Promising Practice 2


Transition Student Portfolio Model

Part I: College Preparedness

Required Items:

  • Library card from the city you live in [Note: Students are required to complete a one-page form listing their library’s hours of operation, Internet rules, etc. At the first portfolio check-in night, the teacher records the library card number on the form before giving the student the sheet protector so the form can go in the portfolio. This is a good assignment for the first week of class.]
  • Diplomas/transcripts/GED certificates from your academic career prior to Bridge
  • Photocopy of your application(s) to college(s)
  • 2004-05 course catalog from your college, appropriately tabbed [at the page listing courses for the student’s major, at the academic calendar, at the financial aid page, etc.]
  • Photocopy of your 2003 federal income tax return (the one you submit in spring 2004)
  • IRS instructions for completing educational tax credit forms [Ideally, each student should have IRS Publication 970 and a copy of form 8863.]
  • Photocopy of your FAFSA with PIN number postcard
  • Photocopies of all scholarship applications
  • Copies of letters of recommendation

Items to be Added as You Receive Them:

  • Acceptance letter from your college
  • Financial aid award letters
  • Tuition/fee bills for each term with proof of your payments attached
  • Report cards for each term you attend
  • Official correspondence from your college (except purely junk mail)

Part II: Computers

Required Items: (on diskette and in printed form where applicable)

  • Computer Skills Inventory
  • Email address (Hotmail, Yahoo, other) [Students are asked during the first computer lab to email the teacher with a few sentences about their choice of college and major. The teacher prints that email for inclusion in the portfolio.]
  • Personal timeline (Word) [This is a prelude to the autobiographical essay required in the writing section and so should come early in the cycle.]
  • Resume (Word)
  • Business cards/personal cards (Publisher) [This item can be done by students only if Microsoft Publisher is available at their computer lab If only a teacher has access to Publisher and a color printer, the cards could still be included in the portfolio, but as a nice “welcome to the professional world” graduation gift.]
  • Business Letter (Word)
  • Google search results (Internet and Word)
  • Outline (Word) [If this assignment is given late in the cycle, the outline can be part of the research paper required in the writing portfolio. For the Bridge Program, the assignment happens to fall early in the cycle, so the outline is, instead, an article about the history of colleges and universities in Europe and the US.]
  • MLA-style bibliography (Word)
  • Budget (current and 2004-05 projected) (Excel)
  • Data project and graph (Excel)

Optional Items: (on diskette and in printed form)

  • PowerPoint presentations
  • Access databases
  • Other examples of applications and/or programming code

Part III: Math

[Note: Students are given take-home exams for each unit. Students who miss more than five questions on an exam must take a retest on the same material to pass the unit.]

Required Items:

  • Set unit study notes and exam
  • Numbers and numeration unit study notes and exam
  • Arithmetic operations unit study notes and exam
  • Fractions unit study notes and exam
  • Decimals unit study notes and exam
  • Percent unit study notes and exam
  • Ratio and proportion unit study notes and exam
  • Measurement unit study notes and exam

Optional Items:

  • Probability unit study notes and exam
  • Geometry unit study notes and exam
  • Algebra unit study notes and exam
  • Coordinate geometry study notes and exam

Part IV: Writing

Required Items: (rough drafts, printed final draft and file on diskette where applicable)

  • Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences Inventory
  • Personal/Reflective Writing I: If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
  • Personal/Reflective Writing II: Write about your school history and the type of learner you are.
  • Summary of Short Story
  • Descriptive Writing
  • Expository Writing: Write about a person who made a positive difference in your life.
  • Autobiographical Essay
  • Research Paper
  • Oral Presentation
  • Copies of all tests and quizzes

What are the staffing and staff skill requirements?
It helps if staff members are highly organized themselves. There is a lot of tracking of paper involved. (It helps if the program buys sheet protectors in bulk so that each teacher can distribute them to students as the students complete each portfolio item.)
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