What%20Are%20the%20Characteristics%20of%20an%20Effective%20Portfolio?

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What Are the Characteristicsof an Effective
Portfolio?

• By
• Jay Barrett

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PORTFOLIOS

• Portfolio assessment is a multi-faceted process
  characterized by the following recurrent
  qualities
• It is continuous and ongoing, providing both
  formative (i.e., ongoing) and summative (i.e.,
  culminating) opportunities for monitoring
  students' progress toward achieving essential
  outcomes.
• It is multidimensional, i.e., reflecting a wide
  variety of artifacts and processes reflecting
  various aspects of students' learning
  process(es).
• It provides for collaborative reflection,
  including ways for students to reflect about
  their own thinking processes and metacognitive
  introspection as they monitor their own
  comprehension, reflect upon their approaches to
  problem-solving and decision-making, and observe
  their emerging understanding of subjects and
  skills.

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• They clearly reflect stated learner outcomes
  identified in the core or essential curriculum
  that students are expected to study.
• They focus upon students' performance-based
  learning experiences as well as their acquisition
  of key knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• They contain samples of work that stretch over an
  entire marking period, rather than single points
  in time.
• They contain works that represent a variety of
  different assessment tools.
• They contain a variety of work samples and
  evaluations of that work by the student, peers,
  and teachers, possible even parents' reactions.

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What Are SomeDifferent Types of Portfolios?

• There are many different types of portfolios,
  each of which can serve one or more specific
  purposes as part of an overall school or
  classroom assessment program. The following is a
  list of the types most often cited in the
  literature
• Documentation Portfolio This type is also know
  as the "working" portfolio. Specifically, this
  approach involves a collection of work over time
  showing growth and improvement reflecting
  students' learning of identified outcomes. The
  documentation portfolio can include everything
  from brainstorming activities to drafts to
  finished products. The collection becomes
  meaningful when specific items are selected out
  to focus on particular educational experiences or
  goals. It can include the bet and weakest of
  student work.

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• Process Portfolio This approach documents all
  facets or phases of the learning process.
• They are particularly useful in documenting
  students' overall learning process.
• It can show how students integrate specific
  knowledge or skills and progress towards both
  basic and advanced mastery.
• Additionally, the process portfolio inevitably
  emphasizes students' reflection upon their
  learning process, including the use of reflective
  journals, think logs, and related forms of
  metacognitive processing.

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• Showcase Portfolio This type of portfolio is
  best used for summative evaluation of students'
  mastery of key curriculum outcomes. It should
  include students' very best work, determined
  through a combination of student and teacher
  selection.
• Only completed work should be included. In
  addition, this type of portfolio is especially
  compatible with audio-visual artifact
  development, including photographs, videotapes,
  and electronic records of students' completed
  work.
• The showcase portfolio should also include
  written analysis and reflections by the student
  upon the decision-making process(es) used to
  determine which works are included.

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Phase One Planning and Organization

• This initial phase of portfolio development
  entails decision-making on the part of students
  and teachers.
• By exploring essential questions at the beginning
  of the process, students can fully understand the
  purpose of the portfolio and its status as a
  means of monitoring and evaluating their own
  progress.
• Key questions for the teacher and the student
  must include

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• How do I select times, materials, etc. to reflect
  what I am learning in this class?
• How do I organize and present the items,
  materials, etc. that I have collected?
• How will portfolios be maintained and stored?

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Phase Two Collection

• This process involves the collection of
  meaningful artifacts and products reflecting
  students' educational experiences and goals.
• Decisions must be made at this phase about the
  context and contents of the portfolio based upon
  the intent and purposes identified for it.
• The selection and collection of artifacts and
  products should be based upon a variety of
  factors that can include

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• Particular subject matter
• A learning process or
• Special projects, themes, and/or unites.
• All selections included in the collection should
  clearly reflect the criteria and standards
  identified for evaluation.

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Phase Three Reflection

• Wherever possible, there should be evidence of
  students' metacognitive reflections upon the
  learning process and their monitoring of their
  evolving comprehension of key knowledge and
  skills.
• These reflections can take the form of learning
  logs, reflective journals, and other forms of
  reflections upon their experiences, the thinking
  processes they have used, and the habits of mind
  they employed at given points in time and across
  time periods.
• In addition, teacher and/or parent reflections
  upon the products, processes, and thinking
  articulated in the portfolio should also be
  included wherever appropriate.

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How Can You GetStarted Using Portfolios?

• Questions to Consider
• 1. In what areas of our current approach to
  assessment and evaluation of student progress are
  we lacking essential information or instruments?
  How might a portfolio assessment process
  complement or address our current approach?

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• 2. What are the major behaviors, outcomes, or
  behavioral indicators that form the basis for the
  core curriculum during a specific period of time
  (e.g., a unit, quarter, semester, course, etc.)?
  Which of thee outcomes can be assess most
  effectively using a portfolio approach?
• 3. As students learn the essential knowledge and
  skills we have identified, what observable
  behaviors will give us evidence of their learning
  and their progress in achieving identified
  standards?

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• 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?
• 5. 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?

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• 6. How can we ensure that students understand
  the purpose and process involved in developing
  and maintaining a portfolio?
• 7. How can we involve parents/families in the
  portfolio assessment process, including providing
  up-front training as we begin to use this
  process?
• 8. How can we integrate oral communication
  skills (e.g., presentations, oral defenses,
  dialogues, and audio-visual demonstrations) into
  our portfolio assessment process?

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How CanPortfolios Be Evaluated?

• According to Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, (1991,
  p. 63) "Portfolios offer a way of assessing
  student learning that is different than
  traditional methods.
• Portfolio assessment provides the teacher and
  students an opportunity to observe students in a
  broader context taking risks, developing
  creative solutions, and learning to make
  judgments about their own performances."

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• In order for thoughtful evaluation to take place,
  teachers must have multiple scoring strategies to
  evaluate students' progress. Criteria for a
  finished portfolio might include several of the
  following
• Thoughtfulness (including evidence of students'
  monitoring of their own comprehension,
  metacognitive reflection, and productive habits
  of mind).
• Growth and development in relationship to key
  curriculum expectancies and indicators.

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• Understanding and application of key processes.
• Completeness, correctness, and appropriateness of
  products and processes presented in the
  portfolio.
• Diversity of entries (e.g., use of multiple
  formats to demonstrate achievement of designated
  performance standards).

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• It is especially important for teachers and
  students to work together to prioritize those
  criteria that will be used as a basis for
  assessing and evaluating student progress, both
  formatively (i.e., throughout an instructional
  time period) and summartively (i.e., as part of a
  culminating project, activity, or related
  assessment to determine the extent to which
  identified curricular expectancies, indicators,
  and standards have been achieved).

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• As the school year progresses, students and
  teacher can work together to identify especially
  significant or important artifacts and processes
  to be captured in the portfolio.
• Additionally, they can work collaboratively to
  determine grades or scores to be assigned.
• Rubrics, rules, and scoring keys can be designed
  for a variety of portfolio components. In
  addition, letter grades might also be assigned,
  where appropriate.
• Finally, some for of oral discussion or
  investigation should be included as part of the
  summative evaluation process. This component
  should involve the student, teacher, and if
  possible, a panel of reviewers in a thoughtful
  exploration of the portfolio components,
  students' decision-making and evaluation
  processes related to artifact selection, and
  other relevant issues.