The portfolio assessment: Qualifying examination

All candidates for the Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Professional Communication must submit a portfolio for assessment no later than their third semester in the program (not including summer terms). The RPC Examinations Committee, which consists of four RPC faculty members and one outside faculty member, will announce the deadline for each semester well in advance and no later than the third week of the fall semester.

Purpose

The portfolio presents the best scholarly work in the discipline of rhetoric and professional communication by Ph.D. graduate students in their third semester. The portfolio assessment:

• determines students' readiness to complete research and writing tasks in the discipline    
• evaluates students' proficiency in academic writing
• gives students feedback on their potential for achieving the Ph.D.

Contents

Students choose representative samples of their work to include in the portfolio, which includes the following (all documents in typed, double-spaced, 12-point font format):

• Two artifacts of the student’s choice, drawn from materials produced as either master’s or doctoral students at Iowa State University. At least one of these artifacts must have originated in an RPC doctoral course. Students are at liberty to choose materials they believe best represent their ability to create and sustain scholarly arguments, cite and synthesize sources, and participate in academic discourse. These materials might include such artifacts as book reviews, conference presentations, research articles, scholarly websites, and other evidence of scholarly expertise.

• An overview of no more than 1,200 words in which the student introduces his or her portfolio artifacts and situates them within the context of the student’s scholarly development.  To that end, the portfolio overview should address the intended audience and purpose of each artifact, the context in which each was originally created, and the rationale and process for any subsequent revisions. The overview should also discuss the portfolio as a whole, identifying the connections between the works and their relationship to the students’ scholarly interests.

Preparation

At the end of their first academic year, and no later than May 1st, students will receive written advice from their program adviser on preparing for the portfolio assessment. This advice will come from RPC graduate faculty the student has studied with in previous course work. The RPC graduate faculty will meet with each first-year student’s program adviser, who will write a letter to the student based on faculty oral feedback regarding the strengths of the student’s work so far, how the student might improve, and what courses the student might consider in the future. The adviser will then be responsible for meeting with the student to present the written advice in order to prepare for the portfolio assessment. In preparing for the portfolio assessment, students are also encouraged to seek more detailed advice from other professors as well as student colleagues.

Evaluation

Each portfolio will be evaluated by the RPC Examinations Committee. The student’s program adviser attends the evaluation meeting and participates in the discussion but does not vote on the success or failure of the portfolio. (If the student’s program adviser also sits on the RPC Examinations Committee, another person will be selected at random from the RPC faculty at large, to augment the committee). Portfolios will be evaluated for their proficiency in the relevant genre of academic writing, for their skill in contextualizing their work in the introductory overview, and for their indications of potential promise or difficulty in completing work for the degree.

Artifacts submitted will be evaluated for students’ proficiency in academic writing as demonstrated in their ability to 1) define a problem or issue, 2) make and support claims and subclaims, 3) cite and synthesize sources,  4) sustain a coherent argument, and 5) use standard scholarly conventions. These five criteria apply regardless of genre, medium, or mode.

After a portfolio has been evaluated, the RPC Examinations Committee will rate it either a pass or a fail and will provide a written rationale of its decision to the student within one week of the evaluation meeting. At their discretion, program advisers can notify students immediately of the committee’s decision; however, the adviser and one RPC Examinations Committee member must meet with the student within one week of the written notification from the RPC Examinations Committee to discuss the written rationale and to provide additional feedback on his or her scholarly writing.

Second Portfolio Submission

When a given portfolio does not show sufficient mastery of the scholarly writing essential for achieving the Ph.D., the student will be asked to submit a second portfolio, which, at the direction of the RPC Examinations Committee, may include different papers and analyses, or revisions of one or both of the original papers. This second portfolio must be submitted by the announced deadline the following semester.

The second portfolio will also be evaluated by the entire RPC Examinations Committee. The student's program adviser attends the evaluation meeting and participates in the discussion of the second portfolio, but only members of the RPC Examinations Committee vote on the success or failure of the second portfolio. The committee will provide a written rationale for its decision within one week of the evaluation meeting, which will be transmitted to the student in a face-to-face meeting including the program adviser and at least one member of the RPC Examinations Committee. This meeting will take place within two weeks of the RPC Examinations Committee’s decision.

Students who fail to pass the second portfolio assessment will no longer be able to continue in the program but can serve out their teaching contract for the remainder of the academic year.

Procedures

To facilitate anonymous submission to the extent possible, names should be removed from the papers, which should be identified with a five-digit number chosen by the student. Students should realize that members of the RPC Examinations Committee may recognize a paper even after the writer’s name has been removed. Instructors’ comments and grades should also be removed.

One copy of the portfolio materials (identified only by the student’s five-digit number) should be submitted in a folder to the graduate secretary in the Graduate English Office, 403 Ross Hall. The graduate secretary will distribute the portfolios to members of the RPC Examinations Committee and to the student’s program adviser.

Scheduling

Portfolios will be evaluated twice a year, once in the fall and again in spring semester. The RPC Examinations Committee will announce the dates portfolios are due. Students should notify the graduate secretary of their intent to submit a portfolio in a particular semester. Students must submit their portfolios no later than their third semester in the Ph.D. program. Failure to do so will constitute lack of satisfactory progress toward the degree. Any request to change procedures for the portfolio assessment must be made in writing by the student to the Director of Graduate Education before the announced deadline, specifying the request and providing rationale for the request. The Director of Graduate Education will decide if such requests will be granted.

Questions concerning the portfolio assessment should be directed to program advisers or any member of the RPC Examinations Committee.

Grievances regarding the portfolio assessment

Students who believe they have legitimate reasons to appeal the decision of the RPC Examinations Committee may follow the grievance procedure outlined in the Graduate College Handbook under “Grievances Related to Scholarly and Professional Competence.”