Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility 1

Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility

Chassidy M. Williams

EDLD 5305 Literature Review

Lamar University
 Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility 2

Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility

Introduction

Since 1985, Texans Can Academies High Schools of Choice continues to be a staple of hope and

second chance for students who have struggled in traditional high schools. Texans Can’s

untraditional approach appeals to a various background of students. The students who attend our

schools are at-risk students. Some of who are overage (19-21), have a history of violence,

substance abuse, lower income, minority, teen parents, and students who have little to any family

support. Because of the nature of the population we serve, our approach has to differ from that of

a traditional high school. For instance, our semesters are 8 weeks which allow students to

recover credits faster while only attending school 4 hours a day. This arrangement allows

students who rely solely on themselves for income to work while pursuing their high school

diploma. Our campus also offers credit recovery classes to help students graduate faster

(Kamenetz, A. 2016).

This untraditional method has proven successful with the school’s target audience. Texans Can

Academies has affected the lives of over 150K students since 1988. Our dropout rate is 10%

while our annual graduation rate is 52%. Although 95% of our students are at-risk, we equip our

graduates to become economically independent. With our graduates, 99% complete career

assessments, 87% complete resumes, and 94% of applying to colleges and/or trade schools.

Because of these statistics, Texans Can charter schools have grown significantly since its

conception, yielding 14 schools across the state of Texas with plans on opening additional

locations.
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The Need for Academic Responsibility

A key element for academic success is responsibility. Although the statistics display that our

graduating students are focused on post high school goals, it is not without the crippling aid of

their Student Advisor or Guidance counselor (Shea, J. 2015). Our campuses do not enroll first

time ninth graders, therefore; all students that are enrolled in our schools already have existing

credits. Students attend our schools because they depend on our curriculum to ensure that they

are eventually placed in their correct graduating cohort.

Most if not all of these students, do not know how many credits they have, nor do they know

when they are graduating or what classes they need to meet the requirements. The key

component to student e-portfolios is to display graduation requirements and progress. By doing

so, it will not only allow students to learn how to keep up with their own progress, but free up

counselors to engage in other job duties and more student involvement (Hertz, M. B. 2013). Not

to mention, this type of student ownership will create a college and career readiness mindset for

post high school endeavors.

Why the use of e-portfolios?

An e-portfolio displays what each student is capable of accomplishing academically. Graduates

must create tangible evidence of learning for success beyond high school. E-portfolios are a great

way to showcase school requirements and state standards. In addition to academics, e-portfolios

can be used as a platform to illustrate community involvement (Horn & Staker, 2015, pg. 154).
 Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility 4

Colleges and employers desire to grant admission and employment to students who are not only

academically conscientious, but who are concerned about their global and local communities in

the form of volunteer work.

Individualized E-Portfolios

Each one of our students has a unique story as to the circumstances that have to lead them to a

Texans Can campus. Some students are teen parents or were awarded to the state, while others

have unidentified learning disabilities and have fallen significantly behind. Whatever the case

may be, they are all deserving of a second chance. Because we are a district of second chances,

we cannot operate from a utilitarianism approach. This is why each students’ e-portfolio will

require individualized graduation plans.

Texas requires that all high school students must graduate on a 26 credit plan. However, due to

unforeseen extenuating circumstances; the state does allow certain students to graduate on a 22

credit plan (Graduation Programs, n.d.). Because we have a large population of SPED and

overage students, many of our graduates will graduate under the 22 credit plan. The credit plan

that has been chosen for the student, will be placed within their e-portfolio. In doing so, students

will have a clear and concise path to graduation. Students will be able to manually go into their

e-portfolios and document each class they’ve taken and credit earned. The checklist will update

according to the plan that the student is on. Thereafter, revise itself with how many additional
 Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility 5

credits are needed.

https://www.texanscan.org/
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“The purpose of a standard portfolio is to support learning more indirectly by providing data

about the achievement of learning outcomes that can be used to measure the effectiveness of an

experience” (Cambridge, D. 2010, pg. 18).

My plan includes piloting the individualized e-portfolios with four students. Two will be 10th

graders and two eleventh graders. Out of these four students, two will be on the state required 26

credit plan. The other two students will be those who I predict based on their current age, will

have to change over to the 22 credit plan.

Digital Engagement

As I previously mentioned, most of our students do not merge their use of technology with

education. Mostly because, currently there is no technology within our curriculum (Horizon 28).

Requiring that students become involved with their academics through e-portfolios, will be a

byproduct of them engaging in technology. Students will be able to plan and foresee the best

options for themselves when viewing their e-portfolios. As new term schedules are uploaded to

their student e-portfolios a couple of weeks prior to the new term, they can best decide that

taking a math and science course together does not work best for them. Or, that they prefer to get

the harder courses out of the way first works best for them. Placing viable information within

their e-portfolios continues to promote student engagement through technology (Heinrich, E.,

Bhattacharya, M., & Rayudu, R., 2007).

Eventually, students will look to e-portfolios as a platform where they have total ownership and

involvement. The e-portfolio will grow with additional items such as resumes, college essays,
 Student E-Portfolio’s: Effectiveness of Academic Responsibility 7

career fairs, college applications, and any field trips or community involvement that students

have participated in.

E-portfolio Post High School Benefits

The idea is that all students will continue the use of their e-portfolios post-high school. As their

interest in career options and continuing their education flourishes, so will the use of their e-

portfolios. Students’ e-portfolios will serve as evidence to employers, colleges, community

partnerships, and to themselves, that they are capable of critical thinking skills. Creative

solutions, ideas, and innovations can be birth through the use of e-portfolios. It is also a great

way to stay in touch with professional connections and communicate with the global community

not to mention, networking.

Conclusion

The spirit of creating lifelong learners can be produced by allowing students more ownership

over their academic decision making. “Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you

do to yourself” (Ito, 2014). This ownership will birth academic success and boost critical

thinking and analytical skills far beyond high school. Self-sufficient and economic independent

students are the kind of global citizens we need in order for innovation to continue. Requiring

responsibility must start early. Technology is the new normal and will only advance and become

more mainstream. As educators, we must equip our students to live in this new digital-driven

age. For example, instead of human laborers; there will be programmers to code the machines

that will be doing the work. If we do not want to witness a mass fluctuation of poverty, we must
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integrate technology into the educational experience of every student now; so that the familiarity

and understanding of technology is not the great divide.

References:

Graduating Thinkers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.texanscan.org/

Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Barrett, Helen (2000, April). Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio. Learning & Leading with

Technology Vol. 27, No. 7, pp. 14-21

Ito, J. (2014, July 7). “Become a now-ist.” Retrieved from

Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools.

San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Heinrich, E., Bhattacharya, M., & Rayudu, R. (2007). Preparation for lifelong learning using
ePortfolios (6th ed., Vol. 32). European Journal of Engineering Education. Retrieved
from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043790701520602

Kamenetz, A. (2016). Research Finds Poor Outcomes For Students Who Retake Courses Online: NPRed.

Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/08/473273580/research-finds-poor-outcomes-

for-students-who-retake-courses-online
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Hertz, M. B. (2013, May 30). Using E-Portfolios in the Classroom. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/e-portfolios-in-the-classroom-mary-beth-hertz

Cambridge, D. (2010). Eportfolios for Lifelong Learning and Assessment (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass.

Shea, J. (2015). Inspiring the secondary curriculum with technology: Let the students do the work.

Retrieved from

https://books.google.com/books?id=m7obBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=Inspiring the

Secondary Curriculum with Technology : Let the Students Do the Work! google

book&source=bl&ots=LGoQqac9IT&sig=ACfU3U3rysIXJaYH6_nnDh4PtxgarbMWFw&hl=en&sa=X&

ved=2ahUKEwiC3ZyP-YXiAhVEs6wKHbZZAREQ6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Inspiring the

Secondary Curriculum with Technology : Let the Students Do the Work! google book&f=false

Graduation Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://texasprojectfirst.org/node/288

Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A., Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M., and Yuhnke, B. (2016). NMC/CoSN Horizon
Report: 2016 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.