With Abre, districts capture much of the growth in CTE through portfolios. Portfolios are central to our Student Success (sometimes called “Portrait of a Graduate”) framework.
Student Success has its own dedicated playbook. That playbook is accessible here. This article will provide an overview of student success in the context of CTE.
Key Concepts with Student Success
Terms:
- Badge: Top-level competency defined by the school
- Skills: Skills students demonstrate
- Portfolios: A group of artifacts
- Artifacts: Items a student shares that demonstrate growth towards a particular badge
- Staff Advisor: A staff member who reviews artifacts
Structure
Student Success consists of Badges. Badges contain skills that can be tied to standards and grade levels.
How do students show mastery towards these badges and skills?
They create portfolios. Portfolios contain artifacts that demonstrate mastery.
An Example
A CTE School has defined 3 top-level badges:
- LIFT Leadership
- LIFT Thinker
- LIFT Graduate
Under “LIFT Graduate” the skills are:
- Completing a certification
- Completing a credential
- Completing an internship
- Completing an apprenticeship
- Completing workplace visit
- Complete college visit
- Service project
- Being a guest speaker
- Industruct interview
- College acceptance
How this works: An example
A student completes a certification. They submit that certification as a portfolio artifact. Besides just the certification, the artifact also includes a reflection on what they’ve learned.
The teacher / advisor approves the artifact and provides the quality control check of the certification.
Once approved, the student’s portfolio updates showing their growth towards becoming a CTE graduate.
(Video)
General Action Items with this Milestone
- Define the badges
- Define the skills
- Assign advisors
- Train staff and students
- Approve artifacts