Lori Gallimore, Extension Specialist

Minor Changes to Portfolio Process Announced for 2018

Leadership and Citizenship portfolios are due into the State 4-H Office by February 1, 2018. Portfolios will be submitted in the same format as last year – scanned and emailed or sent via the UT Vault. However, if you remember, we are in the process of moving to a more technology-friendly, web- based portfolio format … so minor changes will continue to occur until we reach this goal in 2019.

The Portfolio Workgroup Committee met before Christmas to finalize a few of these changes as we continue making our way to a new format.  Most of this is just FYI.  If there is something that needs to be done differently, it is highlighted in yellow. Anything that requires an action on your part WILL NOT interfere with the work you have already done on your February portfolio submissions. If there is a problem, please let me know and we will get it worked out!

Here’s what is new for February 2018 submissions:

RUBRIC

We will use the same scoring rubric as we did in 2017. You can see the new rubric by going to the 4-H Website and clicking on “Forms and Materials” on the top bar. Then scroll down to “portfolio.” You will find the new rubric listed as “Portfolio Score Card, Rubric, Comments Page (2018)”. There are three changes to the rubric and they are as follows:

• A “zero” column has been added. This will be used to mark sections of the portfolio that are missing (instead of leaving the section blank and with no score indicated).
• The “Friends, Family and Community” section of the Section C Citizenship has been divided. Contestants will be given a score for “Friends and Family.” They will also be given a separate score for “Community.” The overall benchmark scores for the “Friends, Family and Community” have also been divided. So, for example, if in order to get a score of “3”, a contestant needed to have a minimum of 10 activities related to friends, family and community … then the contestant now has to have 5 activities for “friends and family” and 5 activities for “community.” Contestants may use the same Section C form as in years past. However, an updated Section C form for 2018 will be introduced on March 1 for the May portfolio entries. More information is forthcoming.
• In the interim, the judges for citizenship and leadership will be instructed to divide this section and look for the work in “family and friends” AND “community.”
  You can help by making sure that your 4-H’ers have clearly identified – if there might be a question – into which group the work they have done fits.

• Instead of being ranked 1-5 on each section of the rubric, contestants will be scored 1-15 with each of the five benchmark areas of each section having a range of three points. Whew?! Sounds confusing! Let’s make this simple – last year the rubric looked like this:

• This year, a three-point range will be provided for each score. This encourages a higher quality of work on the part of the 4-H’er and allows for more autonomy of judging by the judges. The rubric now looks like this:

• How does this work? It’s very simple. While a 4-H’er may have the “minimum” number of activities required to receive score of “10-12” (formally 4), the judge may only award he/she a 10 if the quality of the work appears to be mundane, repetitive and not contrib- uting to the growth of knowledge and skill – which is the objective of the portfolio. Keep in mind, it is about the quality of work … not the quantity!

SUPER REGISTRATION

For 2018, in addition to emailing your portfolios or sending them through the vault, please register each portfolio in SUPER.

All portfolios for Citizenship and Leadership must be received and entered into SUPER by 11:59 p.m. on February 1. Judges have been selected and will begin judging on February 2. If this is an issue, please let me know. Registration will make it easier to keep up with submissions and hopefully cut down on emails and phone calls regarding checks and double checks between you and the State 4-H Office.

LEVEL I NARRATIVE/RESUME AND INTERVIEW

Based on the recommendations of the Portfolio Workgroup and with approval of the state and regional 4-H staff, Level I competitors will move away from the narrative and to a resume. This will be effective for the May 2018 submissions.

To ease this transition and for February 2018, all Level I contestants may submit either a narrative or a resume in their portfolio.

State finalists in Level I Citizenship and Leadership will NOT use a display during their interview at 4-H Congress. Instead, Level I finalists should bring a resume with them to the interview – just like Level II finalists.

GETTING READY FOR 2019

We got through the toughest part of the portfolio change last year! Kuddos to you all! Curious as to what else is happening to the portfolio?

• New format with Showare® so that scores AND comments will be printed instantly and included in the participants packet that he/she receives on stage.
• Training videos for each section of the portfolio were written by the Portfolio Workgroup and are being produced now. These videos include information on each section of the portfolio – what goes in each section, how the sections fit together and what the judges are look for when looking at the portfolios. These will be made available for agents, volunteers, parents and 4-H members through the 4-H website. More information to come!
• Portfolio training will be offered multiple times (3) in each region this year. Our goal is to have those trainings completed before school begins September 1. The two-day training will be for 4-H agents and include one day on the in’s and out’s of the Tennessee 4-H portfolio and the second day on how to create a web-based portfolio. Multiple trainings will be offered so that each agent has ample opportunity to attend and/or re-attend (if they so choose). More information to come!