How Can a Parent Help?

Parents and guardians can be a great source of encouragement and assistance while their son or daughter is completing their Graduation Portfolio. Below you will find some general and some specific ways that you, as parents or guardians, can help your child succeed.

1. Be aware of warning signs. As grades are released quarterly the advisory course will list the current number of pieces completed in the student's portfolio. By the end of each year Freshman should have 8, Sophomores 16, and Juniors 24. So, if your student has drastically lower numbers then it would benefit that student if inquiries were made. This can also be as simple as encouraging students to stay after school for academic assistance.

2. Helping gather work and rubrics. Often portfolio materials may simply become lost. Simple things like checking for work and rubrics around the house may help jog a student's memory to bring the work back to school to be scanned. Encouraging the uploading of items into the online repository as they arise will also be very helpful.

3. Support. Encouragement and tracking your son or daughter's progress can go a long way. Also, ensuring that students are doing assignments and studying at home will show that you care about his or her academic future. The opportunity to attend school dances for staying on track is a huge incentive for many students.

4. Community Service. Helping to find opportunities and making sure that car rides to and from on site locations not only helps your son or daughter in the eyes of the community, but it will also help to complete Exp #7.

5. Letter of Recommendation. Make recommendations for who your son or daughter should ask for a letter of recommendation for Exp #10.

6. Collaboration and Culture. Allowing or facilitating event attendance (concerts, museums, plays) for Exp #4 or extra-curricular opportunities for group collaboration (sports, band, clubs) for Exp #8.

7. No Time in School. If your son or daughter express concern that there is just no time in the school day to complete the portfolio expectations on top of the normal day to day course requirements then they are in luck. First of all many of the requirements can actually consist of things that are not directly school related (community service, group collaboration, culture and the arts). Also, the portfolio site is completely online, so students may work on and update his or her portfolio directly from a home computer or library.