Undergraduate Special Education Portfolio Information

General Information

DPI Requirements

  • Field experience evaluations
  • Praxis I (PPST) and II passing test scores
  • Original artifacts & grading rubrics
  • Self Assessment of Essential Disposition Rubric
  • Disposition and Oral Language Assessment

UW-L Requirements

  • Artifacts
  • Reflective Statements
  • Reflective Statement Submission Procedures
  • Assessment Benchmarks
  • Consequences

General Information

PI 34 Rules for Teacher Licensing - “Building upon the educator standards are the Institution of Higher Education (IHE) program assessment and evaluation requirements:

  • A performance assessment system for students
  • A student portfolio of evidence showing entry level proficiency in each of the standards
  • Increasingly complex performance tasks for students, with multiple measures over time
  • Follow-up studies on graduates”

         Taken from: pi34synopsis.ppt, slide 15

This is an evaluation portfolio is NOT a scrapbook or an interview portfolio. The portfolio is an assessment of the knowledge, skills and dispositions (KSDs) that you gain during your undergraduate work in the Special Education Program at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse.

The portfolio process is designed to be a positive and rewarding experience that provides the teacher education candidate an opportunity to reflect on their own learning. This experience is one that should assist you in growing as a special educator regardless of the number of years you have been in the field. 

All portfolios are expected to be completed in an electronic format.  Each teacher education candidate creates one (1) portfolio that covers all teaching license competencies. Portfolio templates can found on the School of Education Portfolio webpage. Software assistance can be attained from the Technology Leadership Cadre.

A major part of the portfolio consists of the candidate’s explanation and reflection on each set of ten professional standards (School of Education (SOE) & Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). The candidate chooses one to two artifacts that demonstrate the candidate’s attainment of each standard. One (1) reflective statement is created to show each pair of standards. Candidates may reflect on each standard separately within the same reflective statement. 

The portfolio should show:

  • How your skills have increased in relation to the standards
  • Which KSDs you have experienced/learned/gained relative to the standard
  • Your Emphasis Area (SLD, EBD or CD)
  • How your skills have developed over the course of your entire program.

The School of Education faculty firmly believes that creating and maintaining the Professional Developmental Portfolio is a reflective process; thereby, we encourage an environment of mentoring, reflecting and goal setting through a portfolio mentoring process.

DPI Requirements

Portfolios need to include a separate assessment section that contains scanned copies of the following documents:

UW-L Requirements

Artifacts

The artifact must:

    • Connect to the KSD of the standard to which you are reflecting and showing attainment
    • Show your Emphasis Area
    • Demonstrate your proficiency with the standard

A list of standards (competencies) corresponding to courses and potential artifacts can be found below:

The candidate may choose from a list of suggested artifacts (pdf) aligned to course assignments and standards. Once an artifact has been chosen, a reflective statement should be written as described below. 

Reflective Statements

  • Standard Summary
    • Describe your understanding of what each standard means (include both the SOE and CEC standards 1-10).
    • Standards can be summarized in separate paragraphs or summarized together in one paragraph.  However, the candidate must show their understanding of both standards.
  • Description of the artifact
    • Describe the artifact contents.
    • Describe how you came to create the artifact and the purpose it served.
    • These descriptions should reflect all artifacts used within the reflective statement.
  • Description of justification
    • How the artifact(s) shows you have attained the KSDs of each standard (SOE and CEC).

Reflective Statement Submission Procedures (for signature)

  • The reflective statement and original artifact, when possible, should be submitted to the course instructor for whom the artifact was assigned for approval.
  • If the artifact is not created within a course at UW-La Crosse, the candidate should contact their portfolio advisor for approval.
  • If the instructor believes that the artifact and reflective statement are linked AND are supported with information on the standard, artifact, context, justification of standard attainment, the instructor signs the signature page indicating the candidate has reached a sufficient level for the specific standard. Approval is evidenced by the instructor’s signature on the portfolio signature form (pdf).
  • If the instructor believes the artifact and reflective statement are insufficient to meet the standard, the instructor may make suggestions for remediation. The candidate may choose to revise as suggested or choose a different artifact and create a new reflective statement. This reflective statement and artifact should be submitted to the appropriate instructor, as it may be different than the original instructor.

***NOTE: If you have a course with an Instructional Academic Staff member (adjunct/adhoc instructor), make sure to turn in your reflective statement and artifact during that semester to receive your signature.

Assessment Benchmarks

As a teacher education candidate you are required to create a portfolio and have it evaluated by your portfolio advisor a total of three (3) times: two (2) times during your program and one (1) time during your student teaching experience. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to make appointments with your portfolio advisor during the semester in which you will complete a benchmark.

Portfolio advisors are assigned in the Department of Educational Studies. Candidates are assigned to a faculty portfolio advisor during the Clinical II (C-I 302/C-I 304) experience. Candidate portfolio assignments do not change. The candidate remains with the same faculty portfolio advisor throughout their teacher education program.

Benchmark I: the semester in which you complete Clinical II you also should show attainment of five (5) SOE and CEC standard pairs. At this benchmark, it is recommended to complete standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 with artifacts from suggested courses (pdf). The regular education portfolio requirement for Benchmark I is attainment of any five standards with instructor signatures.

Benchmark II: the semester in which you complete Clinical III you also should show attainment of five (5) SOE and CEC standard pairs. At this benchmark, it is recommended to complete standards 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 with artifacts from suggested courses. The regular education portfolio requirement for Benchmark II is attainment of the remaining five standards with instructor signatures.

At your portfolio benchmarks you should have artifacts collected, reflective statements written (in which you combine School of Education (SOE) and Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards) and show approval signatures from appropriate instructors of the courses in which your artifacts were completed.  Signatures should be gathered using the Signature Page form (pdf).

Consequences

The consequence for failing to follow through with your responsibility for meeting with your portfolio advisor AND show evidence of meeting each benchmark requirement is two-fold:

  1. An academic stop will be placed on your registration.
  2. A Notice of Concern will be submitted to the Teacher Candidate Progress Review (TCPR) committee by your portfolio advisor. You may be prohibited from continuing in the Teacher Education Program as a result of not meeting a portfolio benchmark.