Transition Portfolio Basics

Who Requires a Transition Portfolio

Varying states will have varying requirements, but Indiana is clear regarding who the transition portfolio impacts. Beginning with students exiting school as a 2023 cohort, any student receiving an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must construct a transition portfolio. This includes students who are opting to receive an alternative diploma. The transition portfolio serves to satisfy Indiana’s Graduation Pathways requirement of demonstrating employability skills and highlights academic skills.

As an educator, you should be aware the transition portfolio does not supplant or replace the Summary of Performance. This can be confusing since much of the same information is used in both the portfolio and the summary. We encourage you to begin collecting artifacts (student-specific information and evidence) as early as middle school, and most certainly, without fail, throughout the high school years. Arm students with a strength-based portfolio to use after high school to enhance and improve student education/training, employment, and independent living goals. The transition portfolio is especially salient for students with significant impacts of disability.

What to Include in a Transition Portfolio

Indiana’s transition portfolio features four broad sections, each focusing on a unique life domain. These four sections are student information, student learning characteristics, academic skills, and employability skills. Within each section, you can use particular information to creatively populate content that is both strength-based and relative to the student’s positive attributes, unique learning needs, necessary accommodations and assistive technology, and academic skills. Most importantly, the portfolio serves as a possibility path, underscoring the student’s career interests and both hard and soft employability skills.

We encourage you to explore the resources below! In addition, we welcome your attendance at open office hours, offered free of charge every Thursday from 2:30–4:30 p.m. EST. Want to talk portfolio? Let’s do it!

 

Resources