This technological alignment utilizes secure, online electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) to facilitate dialogue and communication, enabling students, special and general education teachers, administrators, and parents to collaborate with one another to achieve IEP goals and document student growth. ePortfolios provide instant access to data which allows for significant and rapid response to instruction and intervention, increased student motivation with use of technology, and ultimately leads to a closing of the achievement gap because teachers are able to modify and respond to instruction quickly and customize to individual student needs. Understanding ePortfolios, developing capacity, and widespread use become vital pieces of infrastructure to effect systems change.
ePortfolios use technology to document pieces of authentic assessment and provide a professional, organized, and easily accessible way to present student work. All students at a site may create ePortfolios to document and showcase their learning and growth, for example a) Special Education—document student progress towards IEP benchmarks and goals and document Educational Benefit and Response to Instruction and Intervention; b) English Learners—document student progress on CELDT and ELD levels, may be created in English and Spanish; c) General Education—document work related to content-area growth and learning. ePortfolios will be demonstrated by teachers from model leadership sites and X staff who have implemented them with special education, English learners, and general education students. ePortfolios will be proposed to the teams as a catalyst to effect systems change within their professional learning communities. Understanding ePortfolios will allow teams to engage in systems change conversations regarding how they use data and document student progress.
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