Learning Innovation Grant

Generation Z: Digital Portfolios

The Generation Z – Personalized Digital Portfolio Initiative will design, develop and implement a targeted approach to serving students who often require intense and personalized justification to improve their self-worth as well as their ability to compare themselves to the performance levels of peers. By building and implementing a Personalized Digital Portfolio System we will improve special education students’ ability to attain the necessary confidence that they are demonstrating learning success and that they are strongly connecting to academic achievement, 21st century skills and transitional skills in a personalized career pathway that will increase graduation rates.

For the Generation Z Initiative, our problem of practice is centered within the broad category of student behavior. Student behavior is often a component that is overlooked as long as students are following routine protocols within schools and demonstrating compliance behavior. Therefore, a strong emphasis of the Generation Z Initiative will be to expand the focus on behavior to deliberately target building student confidence in demonstrating relevant learning and making clear connections between academic performance and career connections.

Based on data analysis (student academic performance, attendance, TELL Survey, graduation rates, entrance inventories, student and parent questionnaires, behavior data), ongoing student interviews focused on student confidence levels that current academic course work will demonstrate job readiness to employers or college readiness to HE selection committees and an understanding that the Kentucky Assessment and Accountability System is shifting toward a more personalized model – the Problem of Practice addressed in this innovation is: Will the development and use of a student generated Personalized Digital Portfolio System (accessing available online resources including the HOLLER, WinLearning, KQED Teach and others) increase student confidence in their ability to demonstrate relevant learning that is connected to a career pathway and result in higher transition and graduation rates?