Implementation of a Child Portfolio System 1

Implementation of a Child Portfolio System

I have a goal of getting our center from a 3-star to a 4-star program in our YoungStar

rating and I know that one of the components of a 4-star program is that you need to have child

portfolios. That was the main reason that I decided to enroll in the Program Development

Credential. I have not worked with portfolios before so I wanted to learn more about them, the

purpose of them, what was included in them, and which system would work best for our

program.

According to the article, The Portfolio and Its Use: Developmentally Appropriate

Assessment of Young Children by Cathy Grace, the purpose of the portfolio is to have “a record

of the child's process of learning: what the child has learned and how she has gone about

learning; how she thinks, questions, analyzes, synthesizes, produces, creates; and how she

interacts--intellectually, emotionally and socially--with others.” I tried to keep this in mind as I

learned about the many different systems, forms, and ways to put a portfolio together.

After working on the assignment in an earlier class where we had to document our own

observation onto the Portfolio Collection Form created by Gaye Gronlund from the book

Individualized Child-Focused Curriculum: A Differentiated Approach, I realized that I was getting

comfortable with the format. I liked the Family, Friends, and Favorites Collection forms and

how I started to get to know the child in a more individual aspect through the Child Web.

I purchased Developmental Milestones of Young Children by Karen Petty, PhD to use her

developmental milestone checklists to include in the portfolios. I chose these milestone

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checklists because they aligned perfectly with WMELS and the five learning domains. Each of

the teachers was asked to check the book out to read and look over the checklists for the age

group they worked with. Another training that everyone is required to take is a WMELS course

so they will have a better understanding of the learning domains to make their observations

easier to document. We have a goal of having everyone complete the WMELS training by the

end of 2022. So far, six of fifteen staff members have completed the training and one currently

taking the course. I have purchased materials such as crates, hanging folders, etc. to keep the

children’s files and all needed paperwork in for easy access in each classroom. I would like to

begin fall of 2022 with having teachers complete two observations per child per month along

with including one sample piece of artwork or handwriting. As teachers become more

comfortable with the process and gain more confidence, I would like to gather input from the

teachers to see what everyone’s thoughts are on what we should have as a requirement for our

center. We like to have everyone have input on our decisions so that everyone feels like part of

the team. We need to consider how many children are in a classroom as well, so different age

groups many have different requirements.

As of now, the portfolios are not in place at our center. We have been working on an

addition to our center that will be adding two more classrooms, a new kitchen, attaching our

two buildings together, hiring new teachers, and then start remodeling one classroom at a

time, and add new office space. It has been an exciting adventure but has taken me away from

training teachers and getting the child portfolio system in place. The new spaces are set to

open on January 31, 2022, and I will be getting back on track in a few weeks to work on the
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portfolios and training. The families and teachers are excited about the addition, so I am going

to feed off of that excitement to help promote the growth of our program through the

implementation of the child portfolios.