Teacher Development Portfolio
All teaching candidates in K-8, K-12, and 5-12 programs are required to maintain a Teacher Development Portfolio. The purpose of this requirement is two-fold:
- The portfolio you present to your instructors at various times in your program provides them with authentic assessment information about how well you are progressing toward specific program goals in your effort to become a teacher.
- Creating the portfolio offers you a valuable learning experience by providing you with the opportunity to set personal educational goals, to evaluate your efforts toward these goals, and to see how your personal professional goals match the goals of Carroll’s Teacher Education Program.
The Teacher Development Portfolio is a collection of materials assembled to demonstrate to others what you have done and/or are able to do. From years of experience and extensive research efforts, the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), the Montana Board of Public Education, the Carroll College Teacher Education Program faculty, and the Education Advisory Board have identified a set of teaching skills and abilities that prospective teachers must possess in order to be successful as beginning teachers. Your portfolio is a collection of documents (lesson plans, statements, letters, pictures, records, etc.) that document your acquisition of these abilities beyond the letter grade you have earned in a specific course. Students are introduced to the Teacher Development Portfolio and the specifics of the portfolio process in ED 102, Foundations of Education. The booklet, Teacher Development Portfolio: Collect, Select, Reflect contains the Teacher Development Portfolio requirements.