YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Professional Educator Standards Board has completed its pilot of the ProTeach Portfolio.

The electronic assessment for professional educators — which goes live online in January — underwent testing with 105 teachers statewide.

It will be the first large-scale, consequential portfolio assessment to be delivered and scored online in the United States, according to Innovations, an Educational Testing Service publication.

ETS partnered with LiveText and invested $5.5 million in the project.

And the standards board — established in 2000 by the Legislature — received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to study the outcomes of the new assessment.

The study will be completed in 2010 and 2011, with results published in 2012.

New teachers must pass the assessment in order to gain professional certification and maintain a career in teaching.

The ProTeach Portfolio requires candidates to complete three modules that exhibit their teaching skills and knowledge. Washington teachers will be recruited and trained to score the portfolios.

The ProTeach Portfolio Web site will be available in early December at www.waproteach.org. Candidates can register beginning Jan. 4.
Registration is open all year long. Candidates will have up to 14 months to submit their portfolios.

-- Adriana Janovich