TO:               BEST District Facilitators

FROM:          Beverly Hartstone

                     BEST Program Manager

SUBJECT:    BEST Portfolio Handbooks

DATE:           September 9, 2008

This is to let you know that the 2008-2009 BEST Portfolio Handbooks can be accessed through the BEST Connections website at:  www.ctbest.org, click on “Portfolio Handbooks.”  Note that the updated Guide tot the BEST Program for Beginning Teachers is also available by clicking on “Resource Documents.”

Both Year Two and Year Three teachers will use the new 2008-2009 portfolio handbook.  These teachers will not submit a video with their portfolios and thus must follow these new guidelines.

We will be mailing the BEST Program Resources CD Rom to each beginning teacher as usual in early October.  The CD that will be mailed to Year Two and Three teachers will contain the ten portfolio handbooks in addition to the Guide to the BEST Program, the Common Core of Teaching, relevant certification forms and the Science Lab Safety Simulation for science teachers. 

A separate CD just for Year One teachers will not contain the portfolio handbooks as this cohort will phase into the new beginning teacher program effective for the 2009-2010 school year. (Note that, because of anticipated program changes, Year One teachers are not eligible to submit a portfolio during the 2008-09 school year.)

Please let your beginning teachers know of the availability of the handbooks.