Portfolio Rationale Template

Greetings Readers:
My name is Vincent Barnes, Jr., and I am a ninth-year physical education teacher. I am currently
seeking a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and a Tier 1 Leadership Certification in
order to advance my career in education. I am driven to develop tomorrow’s leaders into
morally-sound contributors and intend to invest time and wisdom into scholars to help them
realize their potential. Being in physical education has allowed me to teach most of my student
population and establish a strong rapport with families. My connection to families is the catalyst
of my aspirations to work in leadership. I am seeking an administrative role that allows me to
promote students’ academic success while working with stakeholders to elevate school culture.
This portfolio is intended to chronicle my journey through leadership, as I engage in field
experiences to improve my skill set. The journey starts with a brief synopsis of who I am and
why I chose education as a profession. It continues onto the materials that display my conviction
in pursuit of a leadership position, including my resume and cover letter, and forms outlining my
plan for seeking leadership experience. My philosophy of leadership defines the qualities I
believe every effective leader should possess. Lastly, the field experiences document my
leadership engagement throughout my studies in accordance with the Georgia Education
Leadership Standards and Georgia Teacher Leader Standards. The evidence provided will
showcase how integral I am in the functioning of my school. Overall, this portfolio will
demonstrate my ability to lead many facets of school operations effectively in accordance with
the Georgia Education Leadership Standards.
The overall requirements for Tier I certification include the completion of 250 hours of
supervised field experience in education settings, critical analysis of those field experiences, and
a range of experiences at the elementary, middle, high school, and district levels. This portfolio
contains Field Experience Logs documenting hours and activities I have engaged in, and each
experience specifies the standards that were met through those experiences. I have also included
Field Experience Reflections that analyze my experiences and application to my personal skillset
as a leader. This information is organized my month and semester to demonstrate my growing
understanding of leadership.
With the support and guidance of my mentor, I have participated in field experiences that address
each of the GELS standards. To document field experiences aligned with the GELS standards, I
have chosen the following experiences and reflections as examples of my accomplishments to
address each Standard:

Standard 1: Educational leaders develop, advocate, and enact a shared mission, vision, and
core values of high-quality education and academic success and well-being of each student.
Education leaders build consensus among all stakeholders to develop an educational mission,
vision, and core values of what students should know and do as a consequence of their
schooling, as well as what it means for students to become well-adjusted, contributing members
of society. Building such a vision supported by core values can require reconciling possibly
competing perspectives among diverse members of the school community. Based on this vision,
leaders work with school and community members to establish the school’s mission, and to plan,
implement, monitor, and evaluate impact to promote continuous and sustainable improvement.
As documentation that I have met Standard 1, I have included experiences from my role as a
curriculum department chair. The driving force behind my responsibilities is creating and sustain
an environment that promotes the mission and vision of my school. I collaborate with other
teachers to accomplish this by facilitating professional development and identifying best
instructional practices to use in the classroom.

Standard 2: Educational leaders act ethically and according to professional norms to promote
each student’s academic success and well-being. Educational leaders are professionals who
ensure personnel are equipped with professional understanding of the school’s mission and the
professional norms that must be followed to ensure student success and well-being. Leaders have
an understanding of ethical principles to guide actions and decision-making, which must be
within the boundaries of professional practice. Leaders foster the development of a school
culture that nurtures understanding of professional conduct and ethics and have a professional
responsibility to take an intentional approach to ensure not only regulatory enforcement, but
also ethics education, outreach, and prevention.
Meeting the description of Standard 2 is evident in my role as a Professional Learning
Community Facilitator. I conduct weekly meeting to review standard practices and procedures
that align with the school’s code of ethics.

Standard 3: Educational leaders strive for equity of educational opportunity and culturally
responsive practices to promote each student’s academic success and well-being. Education
leaders create a school culture that values diversity. Students are known, accepted, valued, and
empowered to reach their full potential. The school’s culture supports a climate in which
students are healthy, safe, and supported. The culture defines high expectations, encourages
trust, and expects all to be responsible participants; as a result, all students thrive
Through curriculum development, I collaborate with my colleagues to ensure our content and
instruction meet Standard 3. I work with the teachers in my department to derive inclusive
methods for students with disabilities and English Language Learners. I also provide training for
teachers to comprehend Behavior Intervention Plans, which presents steps to address student
behavior antecedents when they are presented.

Standard 4: Educational leaders develop and support intellectually rigorous and coherent
systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to promote each student’s academic success
and well-being. Effective educational leaders develop and support equitable and intellectually
rigorous and coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to maximize each
student’s growth and learning. Education leaders promote the use of rigorous curricula, which
set high expectations for students and are aligned to academic standards. They seek to maximize
student learning through authentic and differentiated pedagogy, systems of support, and effective
assessment strategies that inform instruction. They develop and coordinate these systems in ways
that create opportunities to personalize the academic program to meet individual students’
needs. The effectiveness of implementation and the impact of these systems on student learning
are evaluated.
I have met Standard 4 through the implementation of the International Baccalaureate curriculum
in my physical and health education classes. The IB framework allows me to provide instruction
in a challenging, stimulating environment while challenging students to become more globally
minded.

Standard 5: Educational leaders cultivate an inclusive, caring, and supportive school

community that promotes the academic success and well-being of each student. Education
leaders build a school culture and climate that supports students being known and valued. The
learning environment is personalized so students feel encouraged to engage with others as active
learners. In such an environment learners are willing to take chances in their learning since a
support system has been built to reinforce student learning.
Through instructional planning, I have met Standard 5. I have reviewed instructional practices
and purchased equipment to provide necessary student accommodations. I also encourage my
colleagues to participate in activities with students regularly to foster a safe environment that
values engagement.

Standard 6: Educational leaders develop the professional capacity and practice of school
personnel to promote each student’s academic success and well-being. Education leaders
support the professional learning of effective, caring teachers and leaders who are able to work
with students productively in the classroom and who can collaboratively lead a school or
district. Building an effective staff requires careful personnel recruitment, selection, assignment
of responsibilities, support, evaluation, and retention. Developing the professional skills of
educators involves such activities as coaching, creating supportive conditions, and fostering a
professional learning community
In accordance with Standard 6, I have documented the hiring experience of an athletics coach.
Screening candidates for the coaching position allowed me to learn more about how each would
elevate the experience of student-athletes not only in athletics, but also in their studies.

Standard 7: Educational leaders foster a professional community of teachers and other

professional staff to promote each student’s academic success and well-being. Education leaders
promote each student’s academic success and well-being by creating and supporting a
professional community of teachers. Building a community of teachers and other professional
staff includes creating effective workplace conditions, promoting collective engagement and
responsibility, and mutual accountability. Creating professional communities of teachers and
other professional staff includes job-embedded opportunities that promote collaborative
examination of practice and focuses on improvement of programs and practices.
As a PLC Facilitator, I promote Standard 7 through delegating tasks to my department to
complete to promote collective engagement. I also exhibit collective responsibility through
inherited morning and afternoon supervisory duties.

Standard 8: Educational leaders engage families and the community in meaningful, reciprocal,
and mutually beneficial ways to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
Education leaders build and sustain productive relationships with families and other community
partners in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. They promote understanding,
appreciation, and use of the community’s diverse cultural, social, and intellectual resources.
They communicate regularly and openly with families and community partners and seek their
input and support for continuous improvement efforts.
As documentation that I have met Standard 8, I have included some of my experiences as an
athletic director. I communicate regularly with families to inform them of upcoming events, and
I also seek volunteers to support endeavors promoting the efforts of our student-athletes.

Standard 9: Educational leaders manage school operations and resources to promote each
student’s academic success and well-being. Education leaders are responsible for the effective,
efficient, equitable, and ethical management of schools and districts. Their responsibilities
include garnering and allocating resources, monitoring, and addressing internal and external
regulatory requirements, developing organizational policies and practices, and other
administrative duties that maintain the continued viability of the school or district
In accordance with Standard 9, I have sought out grant opportunities and other resources to
enhance the learning opportunities for students in health and physical education. I have also
collaborated with my school business manager to identify equipment needs for our athletic teams
in order to improve their chances at success.

Standard 10: Educational leaders act as agents of continuous improvement to promote each
student’s academic success and well-being. Educational leaders foster an environment among
stakeholders where data are analyzed and used to continuously improve the academic and social
success of the students, staff, and the community of learners. Leaders ensure a systematic and
collaborative process that promotes a culture of school improvement and accountability. This
plan, do, check, act process is created with input from all stakeholders. The leader uses current
and relevant research and effectively gathers, analyzes, and interprets student data from multiple
sources to promote a shared vision for instructional improvement that engages all stakeholders
in decision-making that drives and sustains school improvement for each student. Effective
leaders are willing to make difficult decisions and confront adverse situations to promote student
academic success and well-being
My role as an enrichment curriculum coordinator allows me to meet Standard 10. Data is used to
determine what skills require our immediate intervention, and it also allows us to inform how
students can improve a variety of skills. The course is designed to help students practice goal-
setting and decision-making skills by working with peers to create a service project. Through this
work, students focus on skills that can be applied throughout their coursework, such as writing
and public speaking skills.

At the midpoint of my supervised field experiences, I have included a reflection on what I have
gained from my study of education leadership and what I still need to work on. At the
culmination of my portfolio, you will find a final reflection on what I have learned about
education leadership. Most importantly, I have described what I have learned about myself as a
leader and the reasons why I believe I am prepared to move to a position in educational
leadership.