portfolios

PORTFOLIOS Introduction

serve a variety of instructional and assessment purposes
value depends on clarity of purpose, guidelines for inclusion of materials, criteria to be used in evaluating portfolios

What Qualifies as a Portfolio of student Work?

purposeful collection: collection of student work selected to serve particular purpose (ex. student growth)
does not contain ALL of the student's work, however, "best" work or an example from several categories of work (ex. book review, essay, letter)
usually a self-portrait; benefits from guidance and feedback from a teacher and sometimes other students

Potential Strengths and Weaknesses of Portfolios

Strengths: easily integrated with instruction, fosters student self-evaluation skills, opportunity for students to show what they can do, helps students set goals and evaluate progress, offers collaboration opportunities between teacher and student, demonstrates progress, increases parental communication
Weaknesses: time consuming, ratings for portfolios generally have low reliability: therefore, weakness is using is for a summative evaluation, rigidity of portfolio rules tend to undermine validity and utility of their intended purpose

Purpose of Portfolios

Arter, Spandel, and Culham (1995) argue that there are fundamentally two global purposes for creating portfolios: student assessment and instruction
instructional: help students develop and refine self evaluation skills, teaches students to communicate with different audiences,
assessment: formative v. summative
Intended to display current accomplishments and to demonstrate progress
showcase portfolios - demonstrate student's best work
document portfolios - show the range of the student's accomplishments (breadth and depth of learning)
finished portfolios - evolving work upon its completion used for summative purposes (accomplishment)
working portfolios - work as it evolves useful for formative evaluation (progress)

Guidelines for Portfolios - Entries should specify:

uses that will be made of the portfolio
who will have access to it
what types of work would be appropriate to include
what criteria will be used in evaluation

should give a time line

should clarify minimum and maximum number of portfolio entries

should clarify content and variety of entries

clearly distinguish between required and optional entries

should specify physical structure of portfolio

Guidelines and Students' Role in Selection of Portfolio Entries and Self-Evaluation

need to give students clear guidelines for selecting work based on portfolio purpose and learning goals
use forms (p. 306-307) to foster student reflection and self evaluation

Evaluation Criteria

evaluation criteria should clarify instructional goals not only for teacher, but students and parents as well
clear specification enhances fairness
may include ratings of appearance, organization, and quality of self-reflection
use rubrics and rating scales:

connection rubric - distinguishes between well organized and interconnected entries with clear beginning and end with ones that are unorganized and unclear

evidence rubric - provides basis for evaluating degree to which evidence is used to support arguments and conclusions in a credible and convincing way

conventions scoring rubric - evaluates appearance, format, mechanics

rating scale for speech - evaluates student videos and presentations

voice dimension - evaluates degree to which entry is engaging for intended audience

Scoring

holistic scoring more appropriate for summative evaluation

Guard against biases:

rescore portfolio after is has sat aside for some time

trade grading portfolios with another teacher

try to cover student's name or have them put cover page at end of work

Using Portfolios in Instruction and Communication

explicit or implicit focus of the purposes for which portfolios are introduced
excellent means of communicating with parents
evolving work allows for ongoing teacher planning
provide framework for achievements, progress, and areas to work on