Fifteen years in the marketplace, How to Develop a Professional Portfolio: A Manual for Teachers, by Dorothy M. Campbell, Beverly J. Melenzyer, Diane H. Nettles, Richard M. Wyman, Jr., has grown to be the preeminent guidebook for teachers who need guidance in portfolio development from start to finish. Thousands of pre-service and in-service teachers have followed the tools provided in this uniquely versatile and practical book with its clear, manageable guidelines and tips for professional portfolio development that can be followed by teachers at all stages of their careers.

In seven concise chapters, the latest edition of this best-selling text offers step-by-step procedures for portfolio development, using the 2011 InTASC national teaching standards as the basis for the organization throughout the text. The text provides guidance for educators on how to assemble the portfolio, choosing standards, and organizing the material around teaching standards. Artifact possibilities are included, as well as how to use the portfolio throughout one’s teaching career, as well as interview questions, and ways to use the portfolio in an interview. The final chapter is devoted to showing teachers how to pull it all together in an electronic portfolio. The end-matter features professional affiliates, developing a “portfolio at-a-glance,” and a helpful Glossary of key terms.

Clearly written with ample real-life examples throughout, the text is simple enough to use without outside help so that novice and experienced teachers alike can independently create a portfolio that showcases their strengths in each of the InTASC standards. The most concise and applicable teaching portfolio development text around, How to Develop a Professional Portfolio: A Manual for Teachers, Sixth Edition, gently guides its audience–whether student teachers, new teachers, tenured teachers, and even master teachers– to a greater understanding and success in creating a professional portfolio to the best of one’s abilities, showcasing each individual’s talents and contributions in the most professional and unique of ways.

The authors are faculty members at California University of Pennsylvania, and have been involved in teacher portfolio assessments for more than ten years.  All have published and presented in the teacher education field in a variety of professional interests including early childhood, literacy, social studies, National Board certification, and curriculum development.  

Chapter 1  What You Need to Know About Portfolios    1