2. What is it ?
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the
student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas of the
curriculum.
The collection must include the following:
- Student participation in selecting contents.
- Criteria for selection.
- Criteria for judging merits.
- Evidence of a student's self-reflection.
It should represent a collection of students' best work or best efforts,
student-selected samples of work experiences related to outcomes being
assessed, and documents according growth and development toward
mastering identified outcomes.
Paulson, F.L. Paulson, P.R. and Meyer, CA. (1991, February).
"What Makes a Portfolio a Portfolio?" Educational Leadership, pp. 60-63.
3. Key Characteristics of
Portfolio Assessment
Students, together with their teachers.
Not just a collection of student work, but a selection - the student
must be involved in choosing and justifying the pieces to be included.
Samples of the student’s work - show growth over time.
By reflecting on their own learning (self-assessment), students begin to
identify the strengths and weaknesses in their work. These
weaknesses then become improvement goals.
The criteria for selecting and assessing the portfolio contents must be
clear to the teacher and the students at the outset of the process.
Portfolio can demonstrate learning and growth in all domains/skills, or
can focus on a specific skill.
4. What are the primary activities that can be designed to
provide evidence of students' acquisition of essential
skills and knowledge?
Which of these activities might be especially
appropriate for purposes of assessment and
evaluation?
How can we grade or score both individual portfolio
elements and the portfolio as a while?
For example, do we have available to us rubrics, rules,
scoring keys, and/or checklists that may guide and
inform this process ?
