This is for Academies, Homeschool, ILP, and Seat-based academies that need to provide samples for IS students.

How many samples are needed?

Independent Studies (IS) students:

• If a student has attended 20 or more school days in a semester, 1 sample per course is required for each semester.
  • This should be a total of 5 samples for Fall and 5 samples for Spring. (1 for each subject.)
• If a student has only attended 1-19 school days, regardless of how many days they were actually enrolled, only 2 samples are required.
  • For example: If the student was enrolled for 35 days, but was only given credit for 19 days of attendance, then they only need to submit 2 samples.
• If a student has not attended any IS days, no samples are required.
• If a student has withdrawn from school before the end of the semester, they still have to turn in 2 samples, but not the 5 required for the semester.
• High School students (Grades 9-12):
  • Additional samples can be added to the course by clicking on the plus sign to add more samples.
  • If a student is only enrolled in 2 courses in a semester, then only a total of 5 samples across those 2 subjects is required.

Seat-Based students:

• For Seat-based students, samples must be submitted on an Independent Study (IS) day, where the student's attendance is marked as "Present - IS" by the teacher.
  
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The date on seat-based portfolio samples must be from an IS day.
• If the student never takes an IS day, no samples are needed.
• If a student has attended 20 or more school days in a semester, 1 sample per course is required for each semester.
  • High School students (Grades 9-12): A minimum of 5 samples is required if the student has attended 20 or more school days in a semester.
    • If a student is only enrolled in 3 courses in a semester, then a total of 5 samples across those 3 subjects is still required.

Key Elements of a Portfolio Sample

Student’s name, Date of work completed, Grade, Body of Work, Time Value

• The student’s name must be visible on the sample.
• For IS academies and ILP: Work must be completed on a school day. If the date on the sample is a non-school day, that sample cannot be used.
• For Seat-based academies: The work must be from a date that the student was marked "Present - IS".
• The sample can be graded on the sample itself or in MySprings.
  • For TK-8: A grade or "Complete/Incomplete" must be toggled in MySprings. In addition to the status in MySprings, a grade can also be added to the work sample as a check mark, smiley face, 9/10, etc. Anything that indicates that the teacher reviewed the work.
  • For High School: Each sample must be graded with a letter grade, percentage, etc. High School cannot use "complete/incomplete" as a grade. This must be toggled in MySprings.
• The sample must be of the student’s work. Results from diagnostic tests/etc. are not acceptable.
• For each sample, the time value must be entered in MySprings.
  • The time value represents the total number of minutes the teacher has designated for the work sample. It does not indicate the actual amount of time the student spent completing the assignment.

NOTE for the 2025-2026 school year: Fall samples must be uploaded to a date prior to Jan 16, 2026. Spring samples must be uploaded to Jan 16, 2026 or later.

Related articles

• What is a portfolio?
• How to submit student portfolio samples
• Portfolio sample assignment directions for teachers
• How teachers and administrators can review Portfolio Samples

(These instructions are also attached as a PDF file.)