Portfolio Appeals Submission Process for 2023-2024
For the 2023-2024 school year, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) will be accepting portfolio appeals submissions through an electronic submission process beginning on January 2, 2024. In preparation for the electronic submission, an individual will need to be identified for each local education agency (LEA) to serve as the portfolio appeals coordinator, so they can be assigned to the Portfolio Appeals project in NJDOE Homeroom which will be available beginning on December 20, 2023. Districts will no longer mail or hand-deliver portfolio appeals to the NJDOE.
Within the Portfolio Appeals application in NJDOE Homeroom, the portfolio appeals coordinator will find the following templates that will need to be completed prior to NJDOE Homeroom submission.
- Statement of Assurance (SOA) for Portfolio Appeals
- Outlines the portfolio appeals requirements and expectations.
- Requires the signature of the portfolio appeals coordinator, high school principal and chief school administrator to verify that the portfolio appeals process has been done with integrity in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:7C-3 and N.J.A.C 6A:8-5.1.
- Must be completed for each school within the LEA.
- Portfolio Appeals Data Spreadsheet
- Provides LEA with a standardized submission template and includes a variety of commonly used, required fields (e.g., Accountable District Code, State Student Identifier).
- Includes ELA and mathematics specific fields for LEA to submit students’ scores on Constructed Response Tasks (CRTs).
Once the documents have been prepared with the necessary information, rename the files using the following naming convention, including the upload date, prior to uploading them to NJDOE Homeroom:
- 2024SOAPortfolioAppealsCDSCode-UploadDate.pdf
- Example 1 — 2024SOAPortfolioAppeals991234001-12.13.23
- Example 2 — 2024SOAPortfolioAppeals991234001-1.3.24
- 2024PortfolioAppealsDataCDSCode-UploadDate.xlsx
- Example 1 — 2024PortfolioAppealsData991234-12.13.23
- Example 2 — 2024PortfolioAppealsData991234-1.3.24
LEA may upload documents as many times as needed throughout the submission window. The “Receipt” button in the upper right-hand corner of the application will allow LEA to see the documents they have submitted for review.
LEA are expected to store their students’ completed portfolio appeals materials onsite in accordance with local document retention policies. On-site review of these documents may occur at the discretion of the NJDOE. Below is a list of the materials that must be maintained locally for each student:
- A completed Education Proficiency Plan (EPP) that includes the most current student transcript, documentation of performance on New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment (NJGPA) and/or substitute competency assessments, and an intervention plan implemented to ensure the student met the graduation assessment requirement.
- CRTs in the content areas (ELA and/or mathematics) in which the student has not met the graduation assessment requirement.
- The required quantity of a student’s graded responses to CRTs in each content area.
- A content-specific cover sheet found under Forms on the Graduation Assessment Requirements webpage.
LEA may choose whether to maintain their students’ completed portfolio appeals materials in paper form or digital form. When establishing your system for maintaining the portfolio appeals materials for each student, consider the following questions:
- Can these materials be located quickly if they are requested for review?
- Is there an established system for storing these materials that all necessary staff are aware of?
- If there are changes in staffing, will these materials still be accessible to the next person in charge of this process?