Previous Section | Chapter 2 Table of Contents | Next Section

Judith A. Arter and Vicki Spandel, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

The term portfolio has become a popular buzz word. Unfortunately, it as not always clear exactly what is meant or implied by the term, especially when used in the context of portfolio assessment. This training module is intended to clarify the notion of portfolio assessment and help users design such assessments in a thoughtful manner. We begin with a discussion of the rationale for assessment alternatives and then discuss portfolio definitions, characteristics, pitfalls, and design considerations.

Educators and critics are currently reciting a litany of problems concerning the use of multiple-choice and other structured format tests for assessing many important student outcomes. this has been accompanied by an explosion of activity searching for assessment alternatives (French, 1991; Jongsma, 1989; McLean, 1990; Mills, 1989; Myers, 1987; Stiggins, 1991; Valencia, 1990; and Wolf, 1988) that will accomplish the following:

1. Capture a richer array of what students know and can do than is possible with multiple-choice test. Current goals for students go beyond knowledge of facts and include such things as problem solving, critical thinking, lifelong learning of new information, and thinking independently. Goals also include dispositions such as persistence, flexibility, motivation, and self-confidence.

2. Portray the processes by which students produce work. It is important, for example, that students utilize efficient strategies for solving problems as well as getting the right answer. It is also important for students to be able to do such things as monitoring their own learning so that they can adjust what they do when they perceive they are not understanding.

3. Make our assessments align with what we consider important outcomes for students in order to communicate the right message to students and others about what we value. For example, if we emphasize higher order thinking in instruction, but only test knowledge because testing thinking is difficult, students figure out pretty fast what is really valued.

4. Have realistic contexts for the production of work, so that we can examine what students know and can do in real-life situations.

5. Provide continuous and ongoing information on how students are doing in order to chronicle development, give effective feedback to students, and encourage students to observe their own growth.

6. Integrate assessment with instructions in a way consistent with both current theories of instruction and goals for students. Specifically, we want to encourage active student engagement in learning, and student responsibility for and control of learning. We also want to develop assessment techniques that, in their use, improve achievement and not just monitor it.

Using portfolios of student work for assessment, already an instructional tool in many places, is seen as one potential way to accomplish these things. But, using portfolios will only have these desired effects if we plan them carefully.

DEFINITION OF A PORTFOLIO

In consideration of the above values, we offer a definition that is adapted from that developed and refined over a period of 2 years by a consortium of educators under the auspices of NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association). (For more discussion, see Arter & Paulson, 1991; Paulson et al., 1990; NWEA, 1990.) Our adaptation defines a student portfolio as a purposeful collection of student work that tells the story of the student's efforts, progress, or achievement in (a) given area(s). This collection must include student participation in selection of portfolio content; the guidelines for selection; the criteria for judging merit; and evidence of student self-reflection. This definition supports the view that assessment should be continuous, capture a rich array of what students know and can do, involve realistic contexts, communicate to students and others what is valued, portray the processes by which work is accomplished, and be integrated with instruction.

Purposeful
Without purpose, a portfolio is just a folder of student work. Different purposes could result in different portfolios. For example, if the student is to be evaluated on the basis of the work in the portfolio (e.g., for admission to college), then he or she would probably choose the final version of his or her best work. If the portfolio is to be used to see how students go about doing a project, a complete record of all activities, drafts, revisions, etc., might be kept. Sometimes the purpose for doing a portfolio is to celebrate what has been accomplished. This is a keepsake purpose, and might include personal favorites. On top of all this, add the purposes of large-scale assessment, which may require more standardized samples of work. Because of the potential differences in content and approach, it is essential that users have a clear idea of the purpose of the portfolio.

Student Self-Reflection
Self-reflection is seen as necessary because of the purposeful nature of the selection of work or other displays for the portfolio. To satisfy a purpose, there needs to be a rationale for the selection of the items to be included; this requires an analysis of the work and what it demonstrates. Recording this self-reflection in the form of a "metacognitive" letter or oral report not only documents this type of student performance, but also encourages it. Thus, self-reflection is one thing that makes a portfolio instructional.

Criteria for Judging Merit
In some teachers' minds, portfolios and assessment do not mix well, perhaps because assessment seems reductive. Doesn't it seem ironic, they will argue, to go to all the trouble of expanding and humanizing our view of student performance via portfolios only to shrink that view back down via some rating scale? No one wants portfolios used to trivialize student performance, but it is easy to take an overly simplistic view of what assessment is and does.

When the decision is made to include or exclude some item from the portfolio, that decision is based on criteria of one kind or another. The question is, "Are the criteria fully and carefully defined and open to all or are they nebulous and guarded so that students must guess what is being sought?" Event if students select their own pieces for inclusion, they are probably using some sort of internal criteria, however intuitive or fuzzily defined. Why not put those criteria in writing and share them as a way of identifying and discussing what is most valued by students and teachers alike?

In fact, criteria give us a schema for thinking about student performance. In the absence of all criteria, how do we know what sort of work a student has accomplished through the year? How does the student know whether to be satisfied, ecstatic, or dismayed? How does the student or the teacher know what goals to set for next time? And how do various audiences know what to make of the performances as a whole?

There are potential benefits for clear criteria. For one thing, those who set the criteria must think very carefully about what it is they value in strong performance, and this helps clarify instructional goals and expectation. Also, to the extent that criteria are shared, students are made part of the evaluation and receive the power that goes with that specialized knowledgepower to recognize strong performance, and power to use criteria to change and improve performance. Finally, clear criteria are a means for us to judge performance.

Guidelines for Selection
Guidelines for selection provide direction on what to place in the portfolio. Such guidelines can represent anything from an extremely structured procedure (e.g., everyone will include an essay comparing the characters in Romeo and Juliet to those in Great Expectations) to a completely unstructured procedure (students can choose whatever they want for their portfolios). A more moderate position would be to specify categories of entries (e.g., everyone will select one research report, one multimedia project, one "best" piece, one paper with all rough drafts, etc.) with students free to select work for each category.

Student Participation in Selection
Although it is possible for someone else (for example, a teacher) to assemble a student's work into a portfolio, the true instructional value and power of doing portfolios comes when students use criteria and self-reflection to make decisions about what they want to show about themselves and why. This implies self-selection of portfolio content.

Portfolios as Assessment Devices
The definition of a portfolio presented above implies assessment. Students cannot assemble a portfolio without using clearly defined targets (criteria) in a systematic way to paint a picture of their own efforts, growth, and achievement. This is the essence of assessment. Thus, portfolios used in this manner provide an example of how assessment can be used to improve achievement and not merely monitor achievement.

Please note that our definition of a portfolio does not preclude the use of portfolios for monitoring achievement, as in large-scale assessment. It does suggest, however, that any use of portfolios for large-scale assessment not interfere with their primary use for instruction. In fact, portfolios contain several features that might make them very attractive for large-scale assessment. For example, portfolios usually contain more than one sample of student work, thus providing a more complete picture of a student's achievement than the typical one-shot essay or speech in an end-of-term performance assessment. Also, since portfolios are generated during the process of instruction, their content might represent work produced in a more realistic context.

Integration of Assessment and Instruction
The process of assembling portfolios of student work has the potential of both encouraging and document in critical thinking, problem solving, and independent thinking. Portfolios include actual work samples and can be designed to include drafts; therefore, not only can they contain samples of work that reflect real tasks, but they can be used to look at the processes students go through when doing these tasks.

Portfolio as a Story
A useful way to think about a portfolio is as a story-telling