Beginning with the class of 2024, Avon Grove Charter School will implement a new graduation requirement focused on the development of a culminating College and/or Career Readiness Portfolio.  This portfolio will be required and must be completed by all AGCS students in order to be eligible for graduation. The purpose of the culminating portfolio is to ensure that all graduating students have explored, researched, discussed, and analyzed their future endeavors prior to graduating high school.

The AGCS Culminating College and Career Portfolio was designed to provide structured support for students to engage, research, and explore a variety of post-secondary opportunities based on their individual strengths, interests, and future goals.  The portfolio will serve as a core graduation requirement for AGCS beginning with the class of 2024. However, all students will participate in a variety of college and career readiness activities. The portfolio provides both structured requirements as well as student choice elements as they investigate and explore potential careers and post-secondary options.

Please download the AGCS College and Career Portfolio Handbook for expectations and guidelines for both students and parents.

As part of the AGCS Culminating Portfolio, all students will engage in work-based learning experiences to enhance their college and career exploration. 

Students will have the following three options in which to engage.  All students must complete one of the three work-based learning pathways however, they may complete more than one pathway if they wish.

Option 1: Service Learning Project

Service Learning helps students build character by allowing them to foster and develop personal values, beliefs, awareness, self-esteem, confidence, a sense of empathy, and social responsibility.  Students can also focus service-learning project ideas within specific career clusters they are interested in. Service-learning is based on the reciprocal relationship between the school and the community; reinforcing the concept that service in the community strengthens learning in the classroom and helps solidify post-secondary goals.

Student at AGCS may engage in focused service-learning projects (not to exceed two projects) totaling 60 hours of planning, preparation, and implementation.  

1. Hours can be derived from the five stages of service learning – planning, preparation, execution, reflection, and celebration.
2. Students must complete the AGCS Service Learning Proposal Form to the Guidance Office and all service projects must be approved prior to them starting.
3. Students may work in a team, not to exceed 3 students, on a single, collaborative project proposal.
4. Student, or student teams, will be required to track their own service learning hours on an AGCS Service Learning Activity Log Form.
5. Each student, even when working in a team, will be responsible for a minimum 1500 word reflection paper focused on their proposal, learning, and alignment to future goals.
6. Student, or student teams, will be responsible for a visual product and an oral presentation to a panel of AGCS teachers and administrators for evaluation.  This presentation will be scheduled at the conclusion of the service project and must be done by January 31st of a student’s (or group of student’s) senior year.  Scoring will be based on a predetermined rubric.
7. Service Learning Projects must be completed and presented to the panel of evaluators by December 1st of a student's Senior Year.

 Students successfully completing a service-learning project and receiving a passing grade will receive 1.0 non-replacement credits towards their transcript.  This credit is not weighted in a particular category but will be added to a student's final transcript upon graduation.

Option 2: Job Planning/Community Service

Job shadowing is a useful way to learn about a particular job or career of interest.  It involves spending time following (shadowing) a professional in that field area to get a sense of what the job, occupation, or field is really like.  It is an effective way to learn whether a particular field may be the right fit for you prior to making post-secondary commitments.

AGCS students choosing the Job Shadowing pathway will be required to complete a minimum of three (3) separate job shadowing experiences with at least three (3) hours devoted to each instance. These job shadowing experiences are permitted to be completed within the same field or career cluster, however, may not be with the same individual unless prior approval is obtained.  Shadowing experiences with a parent/guardian or family member must have prior approval from administration.

After each shadowing instance, students will complete a reflection activity within Naviance on their experience, how the experience aligned with the college and/or career goals, and items learned from the experience.

Students will be required to identify and arrange their own job shadowing experiences.  Students should reach out to their school counselor for guidance or assistance with this task.

Any verified job-shadowing experiences conducted during the school day will count as an excused absence from school with verification from the employer.  Students must get an Experience Verification of Attendance Form signed by the employer and submit it to the Attendance Office within three days of the job shadow experience.

Job Shadowing experiences must be completed and all related reflection activities submitted by January 31st of a student's Senior Year.

In addition to Job Shadowing, students choosing pathway two must also complete 20 hours of community service.  

• Hours can be acquired through school-based opportunities or those opportunities found by the student themselves from outside agencies organizations.  
• Summer hours count with proper documentation.  
• Court-mandated community service cannot be used towards this requirement.  
• Acceptance of documentation in regards to service hours is at the discretion of the administration.  
• Hours can be rejected if proper paperwork is not submitted with all of the required signatures.  
• Students may not receive compensation of any kind in return for their service. 

AGCS Community Service documentation forms can be obtained via the Guidance Counselors or the Main Office.

Option 3: Internship

A focused internship is a more intense form of career exploration allowing students to devote more time and learning in a specific career cluster field/occupation. Students electing to participate in the school-based internship program must meet specific criteria prior to approval: 

• Student must have completed at least 17.5 credits
• Student must be considered a Senior
• Students that have been suspended in or out of school after January 1st of the prior school year will not be eligible

The internship program will be facilitated via Schoology with reflection activities being documented within Naviance. Students will be expected to complete a professionalism course while engaged in their internship and keep an online journal documenting their learning experiences, which is expected to be updated monthly throughout the internship experience. An oral presentation with a visual product is also required at the conclusion of the internship. 

Students must complete a 60-hour internship in order to fully meet this pathway requirement.  Students meeting all of the requirements along with a passing grade will receive 1.0 electives credits counting towards their graduation requirements.

AGCS does its best to pair senior students interested in participating in an internship with a worksite placement. Students will be asked to complete an interest form in May of their Junior year to assist AGCS with finding a partner that aligns to a student's specific career or college interest. There are no guarantees that students will obtain an internship placement. Students interested in this possibility should have a back-up plan in the event that they are not able to find a work placement in their field of interest and still need to meet the work-based learning experience requirement of this portfolio.