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• If a student has withdrawn from school before the end of the semester, they still have to turn in 2 samples, but not the 5 required for the semester.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

• 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.

NOTE for the 2024-2025 school year: Fall samples must be uploaded to a date prior to Jan 13, 2025. Spring samples must be uploaded to Jan 13, 2025 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.)