Rosa M. Aguiar projects triumph and exultation as she finishes her portfolio review at Hope High School.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — They are understandably nervous, these well-dressed teenagers waiting to sum up four years of academic blood, sweat and tears in 15 minutes.

The students, 190 seniors at Hope High School, recently presented portfolios of their best work before small groups of teachers and class advisers. Some students became teary because it was such a momentous event. Others cried because they never thought that they would get this far. Teachers who had pushed and prodded their students to get to class on time, take the algebra test and finish the essay on Oedipus were equally moved by the spectacle of students talking openly about their high school experience.

Hope is one of more than 50 high schools in Rhode Island whose seniors have to satisfy the state’s new performance-based graduation requirements. Students are no longer able to “walk the stage” simply because they have earned a specific number of credits or sat in class for four years.

Starting with this year’s senior class, students have to demonstrate that they have mastered certain skills such as public speaking, problem-solving and analytical thinking. Seniors have to take, but not pass, the New England Common Assessment, complete a culminating project and earn 24 credits. In this district, seniors also have to pass end-of-course examinations. (The NECAP is a new assessment that is designed to measure school performance more than individual performance at this point.)

In Providence, each high school chose how to measure proficiency. Some schools picked a senior research project, while others, like Hope, selected portfolios. With the help of their adviser, each senior had to select five pieces of their best work, one from each subject.

“It could be a piece of music or an essay in English,” said Becky Coustan, a faculty member at Hope. “A lot of kids talked about how Oedipus related to their lives.”

The student work must reflect the skills and the standards set by the high school. At Hope, seniors have to prove that they made a contribution to the school or the community. Students also had to write an essay summing up their high school experience, a reflective piece designed to illustrate how they have grown during their four years at Hope.

Sharnese Williams wrote a personal reflection that was both thoughtful and heartfelt.

“When I first entered Hope High School, I was a young, confused, scared girl,” she wrote. “I thought it was cool to bunk and slack off in all my classes. Studying was not in my vocabulary at all.”

During the summer following her junior year, Williams participated in the Brown University Summer High School, where she finally recognized the importance of getting good grades.

“Once I started 12th grade, I knew I had to grow up and take responsibility and realize it’s about now, it’s about my future,” she wrote. “I had to realize that my biggest weakness was my laziness. Now I am working my hardest so I can graduate. I am getting As in my math class. I never had an A in math. Now I can say I’m proud of myself.”

After her speech, teachers asked about her goals. Williams said she plans to attend the Community College of Rhode Island next year and then attend a four-year college in preparation for law school.

“I want to help people get the justice they deserve,” she told the team that evaluated her presentation. “I don’t just want law school to be about the money.”

One teacher asked if Williams had any advice for freshmen.

“Listen to your teachers,” she said. “Realize that what you do now affects your future. Be the best that you can be because every moment matters.”

Williams said her mentor was her older sister, who became pregnant when she was young, but went on to graduate from high school, get a job and raise two children. She also took care of Williams.

“She’s her own person,” Williams said. “She doesn’t depend on anyone.”

Asked to describe herself, Williams didn’t miss a beat: “I’m smart, outgoing, curious and proud.”

Williams stepped outside while the team evaluated her performance. A couple of teachers said that they were not only struck by Williams’ maturity, but her insight into what went wrong during her freshmen and sophomore years, when she was more interested in making friends than earning good grades.

“Her goals are really focused,” said Amanda Vetelino, an English teacher. “She has seen the brass ring.”

Kenneth DiRaimo, a math teacher, said he was touched by Williams’ wish to represent those who might not otherwise have access to a lawyer.

Every roundtable ends on a positive note, with teachers commenting on the effectiveness of the student’s presentation, as well as constructive suggestions about the student’s future. Jonathan Goodman, chairman of the English department, told Williams that “big dreams happen when you do the right thing each day.”

Another senior, Jessica Campoverde, was asked what she liked the most about high school.

“The teachers,” she told the team. “They didn’t give up on me, especially Mr. Goodman. He made me realize I could do it. Thank you, Mr. Goodman.”

The narrative of each student’s high school experience was eerily similar. Campoverde, who said she was painfully shy, talked about how she slacked off during her freshman and sophomore years. After she joined Students Against Destructive Decisions and began speaking to younger students, she started to become more self-assured. She also said that she had been a hypocrite, preaching one kind of behavior while practicing another.

“Now,” Compoverde said, “I’m comfortable with everyone. I found out who I am.”

She, too, praised one of her teachers for driving home the message that college is an option, even for students whose academic records are less than stellar. At first, she said, the portfolio was terrifying because she worried that she wouldn’t have any quality work to put in her folder. Now, she said she feels proud of her accomplishments: “We’re graduating because we did the work.”

The public presentations, called roundtables, are not designed to be “high-stakes” measurements, according to Principal Arthur Petrosinelli, who runs the Information Technology Academy, one of three small high schools within Hope.

“If they showed up, they passed,” he said. “The teachers want to keep the roundtable low-key.”

The 25 seniors who missed their presentation will get another chance, Petrosinelli said. Those students, many of whom lack the credits to graduate, have been asked to write a letter to the principals explaining their absence.

One of the biggest surprises, Petrosinelli said, is the willingness of teachers to embrace a new way of measuring high school performance. Now that faculty members have seen the finished product, they realize that the portfolios have value beyond their role in the new graduation requirements. Portfolios help students connect the dots between what they’re learning in English class and math class, between what they have studied in sophomore year and senior year.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is the way that the students have embraced portfolios, which was an alien concept just a few months ago.

“We were wonderfully pleased with the kids,” Coustan said. “They said they loved the portfolio. It gives them a chance to show who they really are. It’s become part of our curriculum and it’s intimately connected to all of the lessons we do in class.”

Because Hope doesn’t have the technology to create electronic portfolios, the staff has created a system that protects student work from getting lost. Teachers save the work in their classrooms. At the end of each year, the student sits down with each teacher and together, they select the best piece of work; that work is collected in a loose-leaf binder and stored in the principal’s office for safekeeping.

So far, the process has worked, Petrosinelli said.

Accommodations are made for students who transfer into the district during their senior year. Special arrangements are also made for English language learners, who make their presentations in Spanish to bilingual teachers. Similar accommodations are made for special education students.

Although students move frequently from one school to another, Hope takes the high mobility rate into account. Under the current standards, a senior needs to present only five pieces of work. Next year, they will have to submit eight pieces.

The portfolio is very much a work-in-progress this year, Petrosinelli said. Next year, seniors will be much better prepared because this year’s juniors are taking a portfolio class where they are learning to revise their work, create Power Point presentations and practice speaking in public.

“This year, the kids didn’t have a lot of support,” Coustan said. “We only started in February. Next year, we want to get kids talking more about the depth of their academic knowledge.”

Meanwhile, Providence as a district is struggling to fulfill the state’s new high school diploma system. The district is one of eight that did not receive preliminary approval from the state Department of Education in January.

One of the state’s chief concerns is that Providence lacks a uniform curriculum in its 11 high schools. The district effectively has 11 different sets of graduation requirements.

This means that algebra I at one high school might look completely different than algebra I at another school, officials have said.

The lack of state approval, however, will not affect the district’s or the school’s ability to award diplomas for the next few years, the state said. Districts have until 2012 to come into compliance with the new diploma regulations.

Earlier this year, district administrators were thinking of adopting senior projects as a systemwide graduation requirement because school officials felt that portfolios were too cumbersome in a district with high student mobility.

The district has not made any final decisions about which graduation requirement it will adopt.

lborg@projo.com