Portfolios can easily become elaborate paper collections, glitzy scrapbooks that teachers keep. With Portfolio in Hand presents instead the evolution of a different concept of the teaching portfolio, as the warrant of a new kind of professional teacher. Not simply the result of efforts to reform teacher testing, the teaching portfolio attempts to capture and document the complex mindfulness of competent and effective teachers. In this book, the current tensions of portfolios are explored whether portfolios serve personal or public needs, whether they are used for teacher evaluation or professional development using current portfolio practices at teacher education institutions from Maine to California. The text also includes hands-on guidance to help teachers prepare useful portfolios.