Learner Portfolios are designed to help students create opportunities to share their learning and passion. The attributes that define Springfield Public Schools students are communicator, creative, critical thinker, collaborator, engaged citizen, and academically empowered. Students showcase evidence of these attributes within Learner Portfolios, digital portfolios that help students share learning experiences authentically. The portfolio provides a platform in which students set goals, share learning, and reflect on experiences.

Communicator

The skilled communicator exercises effective interpersonal skills to promote shared understanding and 

• uses effective interpersonal skills to build positive relationships with others and promote collaborative learning,
• communicates interactively and effectively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others,
• listens effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions, 
• communicates ideas through the creation of authentic products,
• communicates effectively in diverse environments by exercising cultural understanding and global awareness, and
• delivers effective oral presentations and effectively fields questions to demonstrate conceptual understanding.

Creative 

The creative uses innovative techniques to design, refine, analyze and evaluate ideas to develop creative solutions, including 

• using a wide range of idea creation techniques to create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts),
• elaborating, refining, analyzing and evaluating ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts,
• demonstrating courage to explore and view failure as an opportunity to learn; understands that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes, and
• acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contributions to the field in which the innovation will occur.

Critical Thinker

The critical thinker uses systems thinking to identify and analyze information to solve problems, including

• collecting, assessing and analyzing relevant information,
• reasoning effectively,
• using systems thinking,
• making sound judgments and decisions, and
• identifying, defines and solves authentic problems and essential questions.

Collaborator

The effective collaborator works productively in teams and assumes shared responsibility toward a common goal, including

• demonstrating the ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams,
• exercising flexibility and a willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal,
• assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work, and values the individual contributions made by each team member, and
• working productively in teams for sustained periods of time to develop high-quality products.

Engaged Citizen

The engaged citizen is an open-minded contributor to society who demonstrates the highest degree of respect for the thoughts and ideas of others, including

• exercising self-discipline to undertake and complete projects and tasks,
• demonstrating the highest degree of character in all situations,
• is motivated to continuously learn to be a responsible contributor to society, and
• is open-minded and respectful to the thoughts and ideas of others.

Academically Empowered 

The academically empowered graduate effectively applies content knowledge for lifelong success, including

• possessing the content knowledge and skills outlined in the Missouri Learning standards in the core content areas (English, Mathematics, Science, and History/Social Science),
• preparing academically for success in postsecondary education or the workforce, and
• reflecting critically on and is intellectually curious about learning experiences and applies them to real-world situations and lifelong learning.