Dinowitz asks DOE for plan to scale Portrait-aligned assessments to all students
Dinowitz asks how DOE will expand these opportunities to every 11th grader. Cheng says DOE is working with superintendents to share practices, leverage existing programs like seals, CTE, and portfolios, and use report cards and transcripts to recognize rigor.
How does the DOE go into support in expanding these types of opportunities to every single 11th grader who has to complete a project or an assessment like this?
Well, again, there are other programs that the students are involved in.
There's CTE programs they have.
We have the Brooklyn STEAM Center.
There are other programs students are involved in.
These are students who might not be involved in one of those other programs that have an opportunity to apply and be selected for what we're offering.
So broadly, what is the plan to scale?
Maybe some here are CTE.
Maybe some here are these 411th graders.
But is every single student currently engaged in a portrait of the graduate-esque assignment for each of their classes?
I think as part of this multi-year initiative, we are working closely with our superintendents, our principals, to be able to create additional opportunities where they're able to learn from other schools,
as well as making sure that the existing opportunities that they have, for example, the seal of civic readiness, the seal of bi-literacy, our career and technical education programs, our higher education offerings and partnerships, our summer youth employments,
our portfolios and panels, right?
So there is a wide collection of this work.
We want to make sure, one, that every single one of our schools from K all the way through 12 understand deeply what else exists out there.
And we know our principals and our teachers are eager to be able to learn.
So one part of the scaling is ensuring a greater understanding of the existing strengths and assets that we already have.
A second thing is really making sure that superintendents are providing their leadership to their schools to do an asset mapping of what is it across our network of schools that we can help support and build out.
And then finally, we want to be able to recognize the higher achievements and the rigor by virtue of student report cards and transcripts.
And I think that is an additional way for us to be able to communicate to families, this is the set of expectations that we are providing and how they're able to read.
those expectations.