@lookingforward, here is what I saw in the article that makes me think that adcoms would see the portfolio documents:
“The coalition will introduce a new online application. Like the Common Application, there will be some factual information that students would need to enter only once (name, high school, etc.). But once an applicant hits short answers or essay or other sections, each college would prepare its own questions. The idea is to link many of the questions to material that applicants would have put in their portfolios, so applicants are not scrambling for ideas on essays but are relying on work they did in high school.”
I have to say that I agree with much of what @prospect1 is saying. My second D is at the very large (and rated excellent) public school that has 2 guidance counselors for approximately 650 kids. There is no way those GCs are going to be able to help the kids that this is supposed to help. No.Way. They simply don’t have the resources.