We offer workshops to help you get started with portfolios and assessment. This page lists the workshops that we offer on site at your school or district. You can also click for our Online Webinars.

IMPROVING YOUR ASSESSMENTS

A1. Calibration: The Social Networking Approach to Assessment

How good is "good enough"? In this workshop, you will work with a group of other educators, and work on evaluating work together. The calibration technique is something you can bring back to your schools - and you can learn how to bring this unique approach to looking at student work online!

A2. Fixing Your Rubrics: Providing Better Feedback to your Students

Get some hands-on help with your own rubrics! Bring your rubrics to this workshop, and we'll show you how to make them easier for you to use and more effective in guiding your students. We'll also look at how you can connect rubrics to grades, and how to use rubrics to track progress over time.

A3. Common Core and Common Tasks - Creating Worthwhile Assignments

See how you can connect your existing assignments to Common Core standards - and how your students can track their progress towards meeting these new expectations at all grade levels. Through this session, you will see how your school can use common assignments and shared rubrics to create new ways of charting students' progress.

A4. Portfolio Assessment: New Approaches for 21st Century Skills

Learn how digital portfolios can be used to capture students' progress towards the 21st Century Skills. It's about more than using technology; it's about being able to show that students are ready for higher education and careers in this new era. Through samples from across the grade levels, learn how students and teachers can show what they know and are able to do - while showing who they are as individuals.

GETTING STARTED WITH DIGITAL PORTFOLIOS
(Available for elementary, middle, high school, or professional portfolios.)

This three-part institute provides an overview of what it takes to implement portfolios without going crazy. The three sessions include:

101a. Getting Started: Using Portfolios in Your Classroom
How can teachers integrate portfolios into the daily life of the classroom? This hands-on session focuses on taking assignments that are already part of your teaching and linking them into the portfolio. We'll look closely at school and state expectations and how students and teachers can go through the process of "collect, select, reflect" in the classroom.

101b. Getting Started: Reviewing the Portfolio
Feedback is a critical component of any portfolio system. In this session, we will focus on how teachers can use online rubrics to assess individual student entries. We will also look at portfolio "tours" that allow students to show their best work from the year in any subject area.

101c. Getting Started: Going to Scale
Most schools begin with a pilot project, involving a few classrooms. Ultimately, many schools want to involve a greater number of students and teachers. We'll talk about what it takes for schools to "go to scale." We'll discuss how schools can use their resources effectively and how you can engage the critical stakeholders in your school community.

BRINGING YOUR INITIATIVES TOGETHER

I1. Making Accreditation a Little Easier
Schools going through the accreditation process (such as NEASC) need to show how student and teacher work is connected to the school's mission. In this workshop, we will discuss how you can have your entire faculty help prepare for your school's review by designating samples of student work and aligned teacher assignments.

I2. Data-Driven Decision Making - Without Relying on Test Scores
The Richer Picture™ portfolio software presents a new type of data-driven decision making. Rather than just disaggregating test score data, teachers can analyze the data from online rubrics, and look for patterns in your students' achievement. This workshop helps teachers find and analyze the data most useful for your every day practice.

I3. Portfolios and Curriculum Maps - A Feedback Loop
Curriculum maps outline a teachers' work; portfolios show a students' work. Taken together, schools can get a new perspective on what is going on in the classroom. Based on the joint work of Heidi Hayes Jacobs and David Niguidula.

I4. How Do We Use Portfolios For Parent Conferences?
A common use for elementary portfolios is to help parents better understand their children's progress. Here, we look at how we can collect and select information for this important audience, and help create better communication between home and school.

I5. Tracking Senior Projects, Capstones and Extended Learning Opportunities
Is your school asking students to complete an independent project? This workshop will help you organize your activities, create milestones, and help students demonstrate their work to panelists

For further details or to schedule a session, drop us a line at info@richerpicture.com or call us at 401-785-0401.