CANDIDATE EXTERNAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW (EPR) PACKET

DESCRIPTION: EXTERNAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW (EPR)

Purpose

The NJ EXCEL External Portfolio Review (EPR) is a key component of NJ EXCEL’s comprehensive summative assessment process. The EPR provides an opportunity for candidates to provide evidence of theirpersonal and professional growth related to their personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies,school leadership knowledge and skills, and ability to apply their competencies to school leadership practices, as measured by the NJ Professional Standards for School Leaders (NJPSSL) and national Technology Standards for School Administrators (TSSA). The EPR is also intended to provide feedback to candidates for their continuingpersonal and professional growth.

External Portfolio Review (EPR) Process

At the end of the program, anExternal Portfolio Review (EPR)will be conducted where the candidates present theirPresentation Leadership e-folios to a panel of two (2) school leader practitioners who assess each Leadership e-folio presentation using the NJ EXCEL Leadership e-folio Presentation Rubric and the NJ EXCEL Candidate PerformanceStandards, Assessment Criteria and Rubrics. (See rubric at end of this document)

Upon careful review of the candidate's completed Professional Growth Plan, candidates should carefully select artifacts that provide evidence of their personal and professional growth and school leadership competenciesacross each of NJ EXCEL’s four Leadership Areas (Organizational, Instructional and Community Leadership, and Strategic Management) and six (6) NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards. Candidates are encouraged to consult with their E-Mentors in making this determination.

Upon completion of the EPR, the candidate will reflect upon the review experience on their Chalk and Wire EPR portfolio page and submit that portfolio page with attached presentation document to the EPR panelist who has been assigned to summarize the candidate's performance. The panel facilitator will assess the EPR on Chalk and Wire (OLAS) upon receiving this portfolio page submission. Without the Chalk and Wire EPR page submission, the assessment cannot be completed.

NOTE: Technology skills sessions, guided practice, work sessions and technical support are providedon a regular basis during the NJ EXCEL Program to assist candidates in acquiring the skills necessary to develop theirLeadershipe-foliosand prepare for the EPR.NOTE: At the end of the program, all candidates are required to present their Leadership e-folios to their E-Mentors, who MUST approve them before the External Portfolio Review (EPR) can be scheduled.

This EPR Packet should be downloaded from for reference by candidates and E-Mentors. The NJ EXCEL Candidate Performance Standards, Assessment Criteria and Rubrics may also be downloaded.

CANDIDATE GUIDELINES for the EXTERNAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW (EPR)

TO THE CANDIDATE: TheseExternal Portfolio Review (EPR) Candidate Guidelines are intended to assist you as you prepare for, and participate in, yourEPR. TheEPRCandidate Guidelines present basic suggestions and should not constrain you from including other information that you deem appropriate and important. It is highly recommended that you confer with your E-Mentor regarding artifacts for inclusion in your Presentation Leadership e-folio.

I.FIRST …………….. RELAX !!!!!

Keep in mind that the EPR is intended to be conducted in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere where YOU are in control. The EPR is an opportunity for you to share and discuss: (1) your personal growth and professional growth during the NJ EXCEL Program; (2) artifacts and information that provide evidence of your personal growth (personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies) and professional growth (school leadershipknowledge and skills, and ability to effectively apply your leadership competencies to school leadership practice); and (3) your future professional goals.

Note: The artifacts you select should reflect a range of activities that demonstrate your leadership competencies across EACH of NJ EXCEL’s four (4) Leadership Areas ANDsix(6) NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards (e.g. NJ EXCEL projects and Internship activities, and job-embedded experiences in your current position). Artifacts from professional experiences that you may have had outside of the NJ EXCEL Program may also be included if they are relevant and appropriate to providing evidence of your competencies for one or more of the school leadership standards.

II. Preparing yourPresentation Leadership e-folio for the EPR

  1. You will plan and organize your Presentation Leadership e-folio using any presentation software.

Drawing from your Professional Growth Plan and previous OLASportfolio reflections,plan and organize your Presentation Leadership e-folio to include artifacts that provide evidence addressing EACH of the SIX (6) NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards in EACH of the FOUR(4) Leadership Areas (Organizational, Instructional and Community Leadership, and Strategic Management).

  1. Refer to the NJ EXCEL Candidate Performance Standards, Assessment Criteria and Rubricsto guide selection of your artifacts. (NOTE: This document may be downloaded from Your artifacts (evidence of work) should focus on demonstrating your school leader competencies across ALLfour Leadership Areas and EACHof the sixschool leader standards, as well as your personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies.
  1. Supplementary Materials (Handouts/Artifacts)

Since your EPR is designed to present artifacts and information that provide evidence of your school leadership competencies, you may decide to bring some supplementary materials with you that further demonstrate the extent to which certain artifacts represent your personal and professional growth, your knowledge and skills, and effective application of your competencies toschool leadership practices. CAUTION:Give careful thought to this. Supplemental materials should ENHANCE the EPR Panel’s understanding of your presentation. Be sure not to detract from your e-folio and get bogged down in too much information and documents. Select supplemental materials very carefully.

III. PLAN YOUR TIME !!!

A. TIMEFRAME: Total 75 minutes per candidate

EPRs are scheduled every 90 minutes with a maximum of 75 minutes allotted for your e-folio presentation and discussion with the EPR Panel. You do not have to present for the full 75 minutes. Plan your time carefully and use as much time as you need to address the key areas of your presentation.

B.Provide Background (approximately 5 minutes)

Briefly Describe:

  1. Key elements of your educational and professional background (i.e. degrees, certificates, current position and other major positions, etc.) CAUTION:DO NOT show or read your entire resume. Rather, list bullets that highlight key areas of your educational and professional experience.
  1. The context in which you are currently working (i.e. type of district/school, size, important demographics, student achievement, current and projected leadership challenges)
  1. The scope of your current job responsibilities (i.e. grade levels, subject areas, # schools, etc.)
  1. Your future career goals.

C. Portfolio Presentation (maximum 55 minutes)

  1. Describe Basis for Artifact Selection -- Briefly explain how/why you selected the artifacts included in your presentation and how they assisted in your professional growth. It is recommended that this be included in the beginning of the presentation.

2.Overview of Artifacts:

You might consider three possible approaches. Ask if the Panel would prefer to: (a) see the entire Leadership e-folio presented and ask questions along the way; OR (b) see a quick overview of your entire portfolio and later come back to specific artifacts that they may want to discuss in depth.; OR (c) present certain artifacts that you would particularly like to highlight and discuss, and then present other artifacts as time permits. Regardless of the approach, it is MOST IMPORTANT that you plan your time to sufficiently address your artifacts in EACH of the required school leader standards.

IMPORTANT:

(a) FOCUS presentation of your artifacts on how they DEMONSTRATE your personal and professional growth, your school leadership competencies (knowledge, skills, personal dispositions and emotional intelligence), and your ABILITY TO APPLY your LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES in EACHof the four (4) Leadership Areas (Organizational, Instructional and Community Leadership, and Strategic Management) and six (6) NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards.

(b) Refer to the NJ EXCEL Candidate Performance Standards, Assessment Criteria and Rubrics to assist you in focusing your artifacts and presentation on the areas that best address how you meet EACH ofthe standards.

3. REQUIRED ARTIFACTS

(a)You must include and discuss your Personal Educational Platform, which includes your (1) Educational Philosophy; (2)Vision for School Leadership; and (3) Personal Code of Ethics.

(b)You must also include and discuss what you learned from your NJ EXCEL Projects and Internships, which are important artifacts that demonstrate your ability to effectively apply your knowledge and skills to impact change and improvement in the public educational system. Make special note of the ways your projects and Internships provide evidence of meeting the school leader standards.

4. TELL THE STORY BEHIND EACH OF THE ARTIFACTS:

(c)How does each artifact provide evidence of/demonstrate your personal and professional growth, and your school leader competencies (knowledge, skills, personal dispositions and emotional intelligence)?

(d)How does each artifact provide evidence of/demonstrate your ability to apply your competencies as an effective leader based on the four Leadership Areas (Organizational, Instructional and Community Leadership, and Strategic Management) and six NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards?

(e)What CHALLENGES did you encounter and overcome related to the task(s) represented by the artifact? What knowledge, skills,personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies did you demonstrate to successfully complete this task?

(f)Share your SUCCESSES, but keep in mind that setbacks can be learning experiences too. Don’t hesitate to share what you may have learned from major challenges that were not overcome, setbacks, and disappointments. That’s real life. It’s how you bounce back that matters …… And that’s leadership!!

III.Feedback & Summary (approximately 15 minutes)

TheEPR Panel will provide its impressions, feedback, and any recommendations to you at the end of your presentation. Feedback will focus on your Leadership e-folio presentation, specifically the extent to which the artifacts provide evidence of your personal and professional growth, your school leadership competencies (knowledge, skills, personal dispositions and emotional intelligence), and your ability to apply your competencieswithin each of NJ EXCEL’s School Leader Standards. The EPRPanel may also make recommendations for enhancement of your Leadership e-folio and presentation for future use in interviews and performance evaluations in your district.

IV.EPR Assessment

Following your presentation, the EPR Panel members will discuss their individual assessments and confer on the overall assessment of your Leadership e-folio and presentation. After each presentation, time will be provided for the EPR Panel members to review their worksheets, notes, and individual assessments, and to discuss key areas that each believes should be included in the EPR Summative

Assessment. The designated EPR Panel Facilitator will work with the EPR Panel to develop consensus for the Summative EPR Assessment.

Immediately following the EPR presentation, the candidate will be informed of the preliminary outcome of the EPR Panel’s assessment based on discussion and consensus of the EPR Panel. If there is a need for further discussion, a subsequent meeting will be scheduled with the candidate and designated NJ EXCEL staff member.

Shortly after presenting the EPR, the candidate must reflect on the experience on the EPR portfolio page and submit the portfolio page with attached presentation to the EPR Panel Facilitator for assessment. This must be done in order for the assessment to be completed. The EPR Panel Facilitator will complete the submitted assessment within five (5) days of receiving the submitted EPR portfolio page.

The EPR Coordinator for your site will be your contact for any questions you may have regarding the EPR Summative Assessment.

NOTE: Disagreement related to the EPR Panel’s Summative Assessment that cannot be resolved should be brought to the attention of the NJ EXCEL EPR Coordinator. If the matter cannot be resolved, the discussion will be referred to the NJ EXCEL Professional Standards Committee, which will determine an appropriate course of action for resolution.

SUGGESTED GUIDING QUESTIONS

  1. How does/do the artifact(s) that you are presenting demonstrate your personal growth (personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies), professional growth, and ability to effectively apply your competencies to school leadership practices in one or more of NJ EXCEL’s four Leadership Areas?
  • Organizational Leadership (i.e. your vision for effective school leadership and your ability to achieve that vision, your understanding of schools as organizations, and leading organizational development for continuous school improvement);
  • Instructional Leadership (i.e. your ability to effectively establish an effective learning environment for all students to learn, and to lead effective instructional programs that support learning for all students);
  • Community Leadership (i.e. your ability to effectively engage parents and community members in the educational process to support learning for all students;
  • Strategic Management (i.e. your ability to plan, to manage personnel, facilities and finances, and to use technologies in ways that directly support teaching and learning for all students).
  1. In general, how would you describe your personal and professional growth since beginning the NJ EXCEL Program?

a)In what area(s) do you feel that you have shown the most growth?

b)How have your technology skills grown during the program, and how will they assist you in being a more effective leader?

c)What area(s) would you target to further your personal growth (personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies)?

d)What area(s) would you target to further your continuing professional growth and leadership development (school leader knowledge and skills, and their application to school leadership practice)?

  1. Are there any specific area(s) where feedback from the EPRPanel would be particularly helpful to you related to your presentation, your personal and professional growth, and your future career goals?

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(Revised: December 1, 2011)

Foundation for Educational Administration (FEA). All Rights reserved. Duplication of this document in any form requires FEA approval.

EXTERNAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW (EPR) ASSESSMENT RUBRIC

CANDIDATE: ______EPR PANELIST: ______DATE: ______

INSTRUCTIONS

The EPR Assessment Rubric will be used by each EPR Panelistto guide the assessment ofeach NJ EXCEL candidate’s Leadership e-folio presentation. The EPR Panel Facilitator will be responsible for: (1) compiling all EPR Panelist Worksheets, comments and assessments; (2) writing the EPR Summative Assessment, which must reflect consensus of the EPR Panel based on the Dimensions described in this EPR Assessment Rubric; and (3) inputting the Summative Assessment to the NJ EXCEL Online Assessment System (OLAS).

RATING SCALE: 1 = Very Limited Proficiency 2 = Limited/Basic Proficiency 3 = Proficient 4 = Highly Proficient (Exceeds criteria for “Proficient”)

DIMENSIONS / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
(a) USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO ORGANIZE AND PRESENT LEADERSHIP
E-FOLIO /
  • Ineffectively used presentation technology to organize and present Leadership e-folio, artifacts and information
  • Basic technology skills not demonstrated to enhance the
e-folio presentation /
  • Limited/Basic use of presentation technology to organize and present Leadership e-folio, artifacts and information
  • Basic technology skills demonstrated for limited enhancement e-folio presentation
/
  • Effective use of presentation technology to organize and present Leadership e-folio,artifacts and information
  • Good uses of technology applications to enhance e-folio presentation
/
  • Outstanding use of presentation technology to organize and present Leadership e-folio,artifacts and information
  • Creative uses of technology applications to enhance e-folio presentation

Rating: / Comments:
(b) e-FOLIO PLANNING, ORGANIZATION AND COHERENCE ADDRESSES EACH SCHOOL LEADER STANDARD
ACROSS FOUR LEADERSHIP AREAS
(Organizational, Instructional and Community Leadership;Strategic Management) /
  • e-folio shows little/no planning
  • e-folio poorly organized and incoherent
  • e-folio does not follow EPR guidelines and requirements for e-folio organization
  • Artifacts selected have little/no/unclear connection to each standard across all
four Leadership Areas /
  • e-folio shows some planning
  • e-folio follows some EPR guidelines and requirements for e-folio organization
  • e-folio organization addresses some/most school leader standards across some/most of the four Leadership Areas, but lacks coherence
  • Artifacts selected have connection to some of
the school leader standards across all Leadership Areas /
  • e-folio is well planned and organized in accordance with EPR guidelines and requirements for e-folio organization
  • e-folio organization addressing all school leader standards across all four Leadership Areas
  • Artifacts are selected with a connections to most school leader standards across all four Leadership Areas
/
  • e-folio extremely well planned and organized in accordance with EPR guidelines and requirements for e-folio organization
  • e-folio organization provides a logical and coherent approach to addressing all school leader standards across all four Leadership Areas
  • Artifacts carefully selected with clear, explicit connections to all school leader standards across all four Leadership Areas

Rating: / Comments:
(c) PERSONAL GROWTH REQUIRED BY STANDARDS FOR PERSONAL DISPOSITIONS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE COMPETENCIES / Artifacts and presentation of information provide little/no evidence and demonstrate little/no personal growth related to development and application of personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies, as indicated by the NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards. / Artifacts and presentation of information provide limited evidence and demonstrate limited personal growth related to development and application of personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies, as indicated by the NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards. / Artifacts and presentation of information provide evidence of personal growth related to development and application of personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies, as indicated by the NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards. / Artifacts and presentation of information provide strong evidence of significant personal growth related to development and application of personal dispositions and emotional intelligence competencies, as indicated by the NJ EXCEL School Leader Standards.