Portfolios

Portfolios are one form of authentic assessment which instructors can use to track their students' progress over the course of a term, a year, or entire education. Portfolios can center on a single subject, or allow students the chance to integrate concepts across subject areas; they can include samples of students' best work, or show the development of a piece of work over time. When implementing a portfolio program, instructors should be sure that students understand how to assemble a portfolio, make sure grading methods and criteria are clear to students and evaluators, and that portfolio contents meet curricular objectives.

Keywords Assessment; Assessment Portfolios; Authentic Assessment; Critical Thinking; Electronic Portfolios; High-Stakes Testing; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB); Peer Review; Portfolio; Reflection; Rubric; Writing Portfolios

Testing & Evaluation > Portfolios

Overview

Portfolios are collections of individual students' work which document their performance and growth over a period of time. They are used to support an instruction approach that emphasizes student participation, understanding, and engagement. Unlike traditional assessments, which are given at a particular point in time, the cumulative nature of portfolios provides instructors with a well-rounded, holistic look at student performance. They also give students the chance to practice peer review, and, when they are passed on through grade levels, can familiarize instructors with their new students before the school year even begins, enabling them to better prepare their course of instruction (Lankes, 1998).

Portfolios can be used at any grade level and for any curriculum. However, the grade level should determine how each portfolio is developed. Younger students may need more hands-on assistance and direction, while older students are more apt to be able to soundly judge the quality of their work as well as participate effectively in peer reviews. Older students are also better at charting their progress, staying on track with their projects, and supplementing their portfolios with non-required pieces.

Depending on the purpose of a portfolio, it may include samples of a student's best work alongside self-evaluations, or it may contain projects that have not yet been completed. Additionally, a portfolio may focus on one subject area - such as art, writing, geography, mathematics, and science - or it can integrate competencies across curricular lines. Portfolio contents can and should be adapted to correspond with state standards, school district initiatives, or classroom expectations. Portfolios are also very effective presentation tools for parent-teacher conferences because they can show parents what their children have been working on, how they are progressing, where their strengths lie, and which capacities they still need to develop (Sweet, 2000b).

There is no one right way to develop portfolios. However, if portfolios are going to be used to evaluate achievement across classrooms or schools, then standards need to be developed that decide specifically which types of work will be part of the criteria that will be utilized as reference in order to assess the work. The specifications should also detail how much instructor and/or peer involvement is permissible when revising work and selecting pieces.

Ultimately, all portfolio programs should require students to collect, select, and reflect on their work. It may take a little time for students to become familiar with the process, but improvement should occur over time. It is important that instructors provide students with clear guidelines, examples, or checklists until students become comfortable with the selection and reflection processes. There should also be ample time for discussion and consultation before the reflection and selection processes so that students are well prepared for the processes (Sweet, 2000b). A portfolio program also requires time to plan and develop strategies, as well as resources such as folders, computer disks, appropriate computer programs, file drawers for storage, access to a copy machine, printers (Sweet, 2000b).

Applications

Types of Portfolios

There are many different types of portfolios that can be used in an educational setting. The type of portfolio selected depends upon what the portfolio is expected to accomplish. Below is a sampling of different types of portfolios and their potential uses (Lankes, 1998).

Developmental

Developmental portfolios can be used by instructors who want to document students' progress in a particular subject throughout the school year. This type of portfolio contains samples of students' work as well as their self-evaluations of specific assignments. Developmental portfolios provide specific documentation that can be used for evaluating students, and determining students' strengths and weaknesses. They can also be helpful for parent conferences. Through these portfolios, parents and teachers can see what individual children are learning in a class, how they progressing, what they need to work on, and what they have mastered.

Proficiency

Proficiency portfolios are used to prove mastery in a specific subject area. If properly done, these portfolios can be used as an alternative to high-stakes testing to meet No Child Left Behind Act standards. Some schools require their students to complete multiple portfolios, which demonstrate their competency in a variety of subject areas. A panel of administrators, instructors, parents, and students then uses a set of performance standards and rubrics to evaluate the portfolios.

Showcase

Showcase portfolios document a student's best work during a school year, over a number of grades, or throughout their entire education. This type of portfolio contains different types of artwork, writing samples, experiments, presentations, or any other work that best represents a student's skills and abilities.

College Admission

This is a type of showcase portfolio which some colleges require of their applicants to give admissions officers a more holistic view of applicants' capabilities as they determine their eligibility for admission. Instructors can help students choose the items most appropriate for this type of portfolio.

Employment Skills

This type of portfolio demonstrates an applicant's job readiness to prospective employers. The contents should reflect a student's problem-solving skills, critical thinking abilities, and proficiency in writing reports and presentations.

Writing Portfolios

Writing portfolios were one of the first uses of portfolios in education. Instructors should create checklists for students to ensure that all required elements are included and in proper order. For example, some checklist questions an instructor might ask of upper elementary or middle school students might be:

• Are all pieces dated and in a logical order?

• Are drafts and revisions clearly documented to show the writing process leading up to the final piece?

• Are examples of different types of writing included?

• Are too many examples or not enough included?

• Are too many pieces representative of the same genre?

• Does the portfolio show how instructor suggestions were incorporated?

• Is a list of current writing strengths and weaknesses included? (Manning, 2000).

Electronic Portfolios

Electronic portfolios are an alternative way to manage portfolio content. These portfolios are stored on a server or a CD-ROM, rather than in a binder or manila folder like traditional portfolios. This approach may require additional instruction and direction from teachers, who should not assume that all of their students have computer access, or are adept with computers or the necessary software.

The development of electronic portfolios is different from the traditional type of portfolio. As with traditional portfolios, instructors should provide their students guidelines for developing the content. However, electronic portfolios make it easier for students to be creative with their presentation. They can add and integrate illustrations, clip art, photographs, audio or video content, and hyperlinks to Internet sites.

Electronic portfolios should be easy to navigate. Therefore, students need to make sure everything they include in their portfolio is listed on the opening page from which all navigation originates. Students should also provide a variety of ways for users to navigate through their portfolios. Hyperlinks to each portfolio item from the opening page, icons that highlight different sections of the portfolio, options that allow users to access other portfolio items, and options for returning to previous pages and exiting will all make a portfolio easier to navigate (From Worn-Out to Web-Based, 2004).

When used in conjunction with an online rubric, instructors are able to give feedback at any time, and students can review their work and instructor comments at any time. This allows the instructor-student meetings to be more focused as students are more prepared to discuss a piece of work and turn their attentions toward any challenges or specific questions they may have (Niguidula, 2005).

Characteristics of Assessment Portfolios

Since a portfolio should be a multifaceted collection of a student's performance and growth over a period of time, several considerations should be taken into account to make sure that a portfolio functions as an accurate assessment of student learning and growth.

• Portfolios should be clearly aligned with instructional objectives. If the two are not aligned, then the portfolio cannot be used for assessment purposes and will be of little help in guiding future instruction.

• Portfolios should also be an ongoing assessment that enables instructors to observe student performance and growth. If portfolios do not reflect student progress over time, then instructors should come up with new approaches to achieve this end.

• Portfolios should not be the creation of the instructor. In order to engage students and give them a stake in their learning and development, students should have a strong voice in what is included in their portfolios, with the instructor only guiding the process for younger students and, with students in higher grades, only stepping in when necessary.

• Portfolios should begin with the documentation of a students' baseline developments so that growth and progress can be more easily discerned.

• Finally, portfolios should also be performance based, be ongoing, and encourage students' development and learning (Hanson, 1999).

Collecting Materials for Assessment Portfolios

For younger children, portfolios can show parents and instructors what students are learning and what progress they are making. Gone are the days when kindergarten and first grade were thought to consist of nothing but playtime, socializing, and napping. Students are expected to learn concepts and skills, and prove what they have learned. There are many ways to gather information for younger students' assessment portfolios to ensure authentic assessment. Among them are (Hanson, 1999):

• Checklists , which guide assessments by making sure students' development is thoroughly measured. They can either be purchased or developed by instructors, although, if purchasing a checklist, instructors should be certain that it includes the entire developmental picture he or she is assessing.

• Cutting Samples which, in younger students, build eye-hand coordination, and hand strength and dexterity. Cutting can show developmental progress as students go through the stages of learning how to hold scissors, how to use scissors, and how to cut straight and curved lines, how to cut out geometric shapes, and how to cut out pictures.

• Drawing Samples , which can show student progress from making random marks or scribbling to making dots, drawing shapes, creating designs, actually drawing, and copying objects.

• Self-Portraits , which can be used to assess both fine motor and cognitive skills. Steady progression should show students building upon elements to make more and more complex portraits. However, instructors should be sure to have children describe their portraits and drawing because, while what they create may not be visually recognizable, their work does demonstrate thought, progression, and learning.

• Writing Samples , which can show progression and achievement as students learn to form letters and words.

• Audiotapes, which document the progress of students' oral skills as they sing, tell stories, or answer questions.

• Videotapes , which show students working on projects, participating in a play or presentation, playing with other students, or going on a field trip.

• Logging Activities, through which instructors can document students' reactions to books they have been read, field trips they have taken, projects in which they have participated, pictures they have been shown, etc.

• Interviews , which can document how students approach a project, such as drawing a picture, following construction directions, following a recipe, etc. Interviews can be recorded in audio or video formats, or in written transcriptions.

• Parental Input, which can provide instructors with additional insight into students' behavior. This input can help instructors understand their students a little better and also guide instruction. To formalize parents' observations towards the end of providing instructors with consistent information, instructors can develop strategies and methods to for parents to document their children's skills and activities at home.

With kindergartners and students in lower grades, portfolios should be assembled and discussed throughout the year. Instructors should meet with students once a month to help them select their best work for the month. To help direct the process, instructors should ask students why they chose the pieces they did, and why they feel they are their best work. As the school year goes on, instructors can begin asking students what they think they could have done to make their selected pieces better. These conferences can be taped and transcribed. The transcription can then be included in students' portfolios with the relevant pieces to show progress.

Using student work folders, which include most of students' other assignments, is a little different. Three or four times a year, instructors should ask individual students to select a few pieces they think represent their best work. The instructor can ask students why they chose these pieces, note their responses, and include these in their portfolios (LaBoskey, 2000).

Portfolios can prove invaluable to instructors as they assess their students' strengths and weaknesses and determine the course of future instruction. Portfolios also give instructors a concrete way to show a child's progress to his or her parents.

Further Insights

Because students may be at different levels for achievement, progress, and growth, researchers and instructors alike have long taken issue with using a single letter grade to evaluate student work (Wiggins, 1994, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). The strength of portfolios is that they holistically measure higher order thinking skills and overall achievement (Henkin, 1993, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). They may even be less subject to bias (Calvin, 1993, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). Students benefit from them, too, as they become better evaluators of their own work and learn to practice reflection (Gilman & McDermott, 1994; Lambdin & Walker, 1994; Newman & Smolen, 1993; Snyder, Elliot, Bhavnagri & Boyer, 1993; Tierney, 1992, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001).

Portfolios are considered a form of authentic assessment because they use multiple sources of evidence to assess student achievement (Kieffer & Morrison, 1994, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). Portfolios can also provide easier access to student materials because of the collection process (Stahle & Mitchell, 1993, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). And because of the conferencing brought about by the portfolio process, portfolios can be a useful tool for increasing communication among student, parents, and instructors (Calfee & Perfumo, 1993; Lambdin & Walker, 1994, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001; Lucas-Lescher, 1995, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001)

However, there are also some considerations to be taken into account before implementing a portfolio program. A major consideration should be how portfolio contents will be assessed (Adams & Hamm, 1992; Calfee & Perfumo, 1993; Cramer, 1993; Gilman & McDermott, 1994; Valeri-Gold, Olson & Deming, 1991, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). Why and how portfolios will be used should also be taken into account (Nelson, 1995, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). An example of this would be determining whether portfolios are going to replace other assessment instruments or complement them (Cramer, 1993, as cited in Cook-Benjamin, 2001). Who will read the portfolios' contents - whether students, parents, or other instructors - and who should determine the portfolios' contents - students, instructors, or a combination of both - should also be considered (Cook-Benjamin, 2001).

Some complications may arise when using portfolios for assessment purposes. If students have not had enough opportunities to learn the subject matter and understand the connection of concept and procedure, then valid assessment is impossible to achieve. Instructors can address this issue by examining the curriculum and their instructional strategies to make sure that they are covering the competencies needed for each project. Students who have minimal experience working on extended projects and solving open-ended problems are less likely do well than students who do have such experience. However, this, too, can be mitigated by examining the curriculum and instructional strategies, and by making sure that students are given enough opportunity to become comfortable with the process before using the results for assessment purposes.

Students with English as their second language may also have difficulty with the portfolio process because it can be heavily dependent upon their abilities to write and speak English. Instructors can provide bilingual support, translated materials, and the opportunity for students to complete some projects in their native languages.

When adopting assessment portfolios, instructors may find that their students are working on tasks and projects that are not comparable across the classroom or school. This can be overcome by developing general criteria that can encompass a wide variety of projects, making sure that instructors are properly trained to use the criteria, having more than one person rate each portfolio, supplementing the portfolio program with other assessment methods, and designing a few tasks that all students are required to complete and include in their portfolios (Sweet, 2000a).

Portfolios can be a great addition to the classroom. They can give students a sense of accomplishment by enabling them to see the growth they have made over a period of time. They also make students aware of areas in which they still need to improve. Students can also refer to previous portfolios in later classes, and use some of the pieces for other projects (Cook-Benjamin, 2001). Portfolios can help students develop critical thinking skills, which will aid them in future endeavors, and they can also be a very effective tool for involving students in their education. Engaging students in authentic assessment portfolios shows them that they have an important stake in their learning. Students learn to critically assess their own bodies of work, reflect on what makes a high quality project or paper, and use these insights to make improvements in their future work.

Terms & Concepts

Assessment: The process of determining the amount of information students have retained.

Authentic Assessment: Assessment tasks that resemble tasks in the real world and in school and aims to evaluate several kinds of skills in contexts that are similar to actual situations in which those skills would need to be applied.

Critical Thinking: The process of actively applying, analyzing, and/or evaluating information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, or reasoning.

High-Stakes Testing: The use of test scores to make decisions that have important consequences for individuals, schools, school districts, and/or states and can include high school graduation, promotion to the next grade, resource allocation, and instructor retention.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB): The latest reauthorization and a major overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the major federal law regarding K-12 education.

Peer Review: A process where students comment on and judge their classmate's work using set criteria.

Portfolio: A systematic collection of teacher observations and student work representing the student’s progress and activities of a particular course. It may also have projects that have not yet been completed in order to show that the evolution of a project at different stages.

Reflection: The process of deriving meaning and knowledge from an experience and to consciously connect classroom learning to the experience.

Rubric: A set of ordered categories to which a given piece of work can be compared. It is a guide that shows how what learners do will be assessed and graded.

Bibliography

Chi-Cheng, C., & Bing-Hong, W. (2012). Is teacher assessment reliable or valid for high school students under a web-based portfolio environment?. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 15, 265-278. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=83234632&site=ehost-live

Cook-Benjamin, L. (2001). Portfolio assessment: Benefits, issues of implementation, and reflections on its use. Assessment Update, 13 , 6. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=10350183&site=ehost-live

Davis-Soylu, H. J., Peppler, K. A., & Hickey, D. T. (2011). Assessment assemblage: Advancing portfolio practice through the assessment staging theory. Studies in Art Education, 52, 213-224. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=61796404&site=ehost-live

From worn-out to web-based: Better student portfolios (2004). Phi Delta Kappan, 85 , 792-794. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13292501&site=ehost-live

Hanson, M. (1999). Portfolio assessment: More than ABCs and 123s. Early Childhood Education Journal, 27 , 81-86. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11305143&site=ehost-live

LaBoskey, V. (2000). Portfolios here, portfolios there… Phi Delta Kappan, 81 , 590. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2981919&site=ehost-live

Lankes, A.M. (1998). Portfolios: A new wave in assessment. T H E Journal, 25 , 18. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=473439&site=ehost-live

Manning, M. (2000). Writing portfolios. Teaching PreK-8, 30 , 97. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2831259&site=ehost-live

Niguidula, D. (2005). Documenting learning with digital portfolios. Educational Leadership, 63 , 44-47. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18772741&site=ehost-live

Stockall, N., & Smith, R. E. (2013). Alternative assessment portfolios for students with intellectual disabilities: A case study. Exceptionality, 21, 127-146. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88892793&site=ehost-live

Sweet, D. (2000a). Student portfolios: Administrative uses. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=3368961&site=ehost-live

Sweet, D. (2000b). Student portfolios: Classroom uses. Retrieved August 30, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=3371200&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Barbour, N., Ambrose, R. & Hansford, S. (1997). Designing and Using Portfolios. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Benson, B. & Barnett, S. (2005). Student-Led Conferencing Using Showcase Portfolios. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Cole, D., Ryan, C., Kick, F. & Mathies, B. (1995). Portfolios Across the Curriculum and Beyond. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Grace, C., Shores E. & Brown, M. (1991). Portfolio and Its Use: Developmentally Appropriate Assessment of Young Children. Little Rock, AR: Southern Early Childhood Association.

Klenowski, V. (2002). Developing Portfolios for Learning and Assessment: Processes and Principles. London, UK: Routledge.