1. A guide for holders of initial and transitional certificates
Teacher Portfolios
A guide for holders of
initial and transitional certificates

2. Purpose
Portfolios are a required evaluative tool for all teachers holding an Initial or Transitional certificate in New York State
PCSD’s portfolio process allows teachers to leverage their work in the summative evaluation part of the APPR process.

3. Relationship of the Portfolio to the APPR Process
The portfolio process may use the same artifacts that are provided by teachers in their summative meeting.
The APPR Handbook, which provides an overview of the APPR process can be found at

4. Portfolio Structure
Portfolios are based on the four domains of the Danielson Rubric,
Planning and Preparation
Classroom Environment
Delivery of Instruction
Professional Responsibilities

5. Portfolio Structure
The portfolio should demonstrate evidence of performance in each of the four domains.
Portfolios should include two artifacts from each domain.
Portfolio artifacts should not be duplicative and should address at least two components within each domain.

6. Examples of Portfolio Artifacts by Performance Standard

7. Portfolio Artifact Management
A portfolio artifact chosen by the teacher must be captioned to demonstrate its context
Artifacts must be titled
Artifacts must be labeled to correspond to the components within each domain.
Artifacts must include the date of creation
Artifacts must indicate an author / creator
Artifacts must include a one paragraph descriptive narrative that demonstrates teacher reflection

8. Portfolio Organization
The portfolio may be maintained in paper or electronic form.
Paper form:
The portfolio should be kept in a three-ring binder and should be divided into tabbed sections labeled with the applicable professional standards domain.
Artifacts must be captioned as indicated.
Electronic form:
The portfolio must be a PDF and may include original electronic or scanned versions of documents, video or student work.

9. Timeline for Portfolio review
Due to the new APPR process the teacher may use the artifacts provided at the yearly summative meetings with his/her lead evaluator.
Each year of the teacher’s probationary term four artifacts will be presented at the summative conference; one from each domain.
These artifacts should be used to build the teacher’s portfolio.
Upon completion, the portfolio will be submitted to the Principal for review and sign-off.