By Bravetta Hassell
NYT Institute

Before adulthood, Louisiana students as young as 12 can be managing their own portfolios—academic portfolios that is.

The State of Louisiana has spent the last two years developing a program that would eliminate the need for a paper-heavy system, full of important documents students and parents cannot keep up with forever.

The internet site would allow students to view and save standardized test scores, and gain access to a number of web sources related to their academic and career goals.

Lisa Vosper, the associate commissioner for workforce education and training at the Board of Regents and creator of the program was once a drop-out prevention counselor and 7th grade English teacher in Boca Raton, Fla.

“(I) thought about what resources I would have wanted to fulfill the requirements of the law,” she said.

Louisiana’s Act 1124, the Career Options Law, mandates secondary students to outline a five-year career educational path and take part in six career activities.

It’s the Louisiana Lifelong Learning Education Portal: Secondary to Post Secondary and Beyond program. But for now, said Vosper, e-portal will suffice until a “clever acronym” is found.

For 7th graders entering middle school, the system would serve as a place to begin developing their portfolios with academic information.

Whereas, a high school junior getting ready to take the American College Test would prepare by using the basic skill building programs the site would make available.

Jim Clarke, the deputy commissioner for workforce education and training at the Board of Regents, said the portal would allow non-traditional students looking for jobs to find and use information necessary for getting employment.

“It’s a comprehensive system for students to measure where they are, to refine along the way, and then to identify the pathway for success,” said Vosper, “whether that means going to college or entering the workforce.”

With e-portal, students and parents will be just a click away from current and relevant information, Vosper said. She estimated the initial cost for the system to be finalized and put on the web as less than $175,000. Maintaining the database to serve more than 50,000 students would cost more after the program began running.

E-portal’s partners and constituents would be the system’s beneficiaries. The departments of education, labor and economic development, the Board of Regents and the Community and Technology College System are among the partners.

“We’re excited for what this could mean for the future of education in Louisiana,” Vosper said.