Portfolios Across Educational Contexts: issues of Evaluation, Teacher Development, and System Validity (original) (raw)
Related papers
1998
I first began working with Bellevue teachers in 1989, as they were reconceptualizing their student learning outcomes for literacy. As with other curriculum development projects, it quickly became apparent to teachers and administrators that the content and form of their assessments had to change as well. Classroom-based portfolios became our focus. A year later, we began a long-term collaboration to design and implement classroom assessments that would help us document student progress on the learning outcomes, and that would also help us improve teaching and learning. When we began this process, none of us could have imagined that it would last seven years, and none of us would have predicted that we would write this book. Now, after seven years of problem-solving, conducting action research, collecting data, and actually implementing portfolios, we are ready to share our work with teachers and administrators who want to change the face of literacy assessment and instruction. The concepts and strategies contained in these pages have stood the test of time and of experimentation by many teachers working at many grade levels with students from diverse backgrounds. Our intention is not to provide a formula or prescription for how portfolios should look or how they should be implemented and used, but rather to take you through a process of thinking about how to put portfolios into action. We hope to raise issues and offer ideas for your consideration; ultimately, the decisions to make are yours and they must fit with your goals for student learning, your particular students, your teaching style, and your purposes for keeping portfolios. Our aim is to foster good instruction-to view portfolios as an instructional tool as well as an assessment tool. In the end, it is good instruction that improves student achievement, not simply good assessment. This portfolio book is different from many other portfolio books in two important ways. First, we systematically present a way of thinhing about portfolios. \Ve model, if you will, a process for making decisions about the type of portfolio, what to place in it, how to structure interactions with it, and how to use it to evaluate student progress and report to others. In other words, rather than simply providing ideas, we provide a problem-solving approach that teachers can use to make their own decisions. We do this by describing the rationale and thinking behind what we do as we present examples from our own classrooms and our students. Second, we emphasize using portfolios rather than simply collecting student work. The premise of this book is that if literacy portfolios are to achieve their intended benefits, then they must be used by teachers and students as instructional tools as well as assessment tools. Using portfolios in this way requires that teachers and students understand the reading and writing processes, be able to interpret student literacy work samples and portfolio artifacts, and apply that knowledge to improve instruction and learning. In this book we use actual student portfolio artifacts to discuss student performance and instructional considerations. We also help readers understand how to use portfolios by providing suggestions for making portfolios an integral part of instructional lessons and for helping students learn how to engage in self-reflection and self-assessment. Literacy Portfolios in Action is intended for new and experienced teachers in grades K-8; we assume that readers have a basic understanding of literacy learning and instruction. It can be used as a supplementary text in literacy courses, it can stand alone as a text for literacy assessment courses and professional development experiences, or it can be used as an individual professional resource. The chapters iii swv 8/97
Teachers' Reports of the Effects of Preparing Portfolios of Literacy Instruction
Elementary School Journal, 1994
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Designing Portfolios for the Assessment of Elementary Literacy Teaching: Work-in-Progress
1988
This paper describes the Teacher Assessment Project at Stanford University, which is currently examining the use of performance -based methods for assessing teachers' competence. The research outlined in this work-in-progress explores the feasibility of ancumenting teaching through the use of portfolios. The paper identifies three scenarios--integrated language instruction, assessment of students, and creating a literate environment--that represent diverse, but critical tasks in the teaching of elementary literacy. The paper identifies the assumptions underlying the three scenarios and discusses how these assumptions have shaped the development of these works-in-progress. The paper suggests that these three cases-in-point in the teaching of elementary literacy offer a promising opportunity to explore to what extent documentation can reveal how teachers actually teach in their classrooms. (Three figures are included, and 14 references are appended.) (MS)
Portfolio assessment: Making connections, guiding change
2008
Three literacy teacher-educators chart the ways in which portfolio assessment impacted their program. They discuss the tension between the demands of national accreditation standards and faculty belief systems in more ecological approaches. They describe the processes of change that occurred programmatically and individually which continue to improve the literacy program.
Portfolios in Action: A Study of Two Classrooms with Implications for Reform
1993
The impact of portfolio assessment, specifically writing portfolios, on the norms of classroom assessment practices were studied in two English Language Arts classes in a middle class suburban high school in the Los Angeles (California) area. Data were gathered through observations and interviews, and the examination of 25 student portfolios, with student reflections and teacher comments, and 56 student compositions regarding portfolios. Students maintained working portfolios all semester, and selected items for permanent inclusion at the end of each semester. Portfolios counted heavily for grades in both classes. Portfolios in these classes met the qualifying criteria, but no impact on assessment practice was discernible. A single significant criterion was apparent in both classes, and that was completion of the assignment on time. Neither quality of work nor student growth appeared to be a consideration. Both teachers expressed discomfort regarding assessment. Students generally expressed favorable attitudes toward portfolios, but most (9 of the 11 interviewed) viewed the teacher as the primary variable in determining grades. Findings suggest that even expert instructors may lack the awareness, knowledge, and skills to participate in professional assessment practices, particularly with portfolios. One graph and one chart illustrate the discussion. (SLD)
At the Heart of Education: Portfolios as a Learning Tool
1995
This chapter consists of a conversation between a third-grade teacher and a teacher educator about the advantages of the portfolio method of assessment. The advantages of portfolios are that they are a powerful learning tool as well an assessment tool, they can make the separate subjects in a curriculum come together in an integrated way, and the fact that they are prepared for an audience besides the teacher makes the student think more about the real-world applicability of the material. The challenges of portfolios are the time they require, and that educators need to relinquish some control in order to empower students at the center of the learning process. Working with portfolios requires engaging students in the process of developing standards, collecting and selecting from their authentic work, and making presentations to an audience. This collaborative process encourages both teachers and students to explore new concepts for standards of quality. The exercise of determining these standards is a valuable learning tool in itself. Beyond content knowledge, portfolios encourage critical thinking, decision making, organization, reflection, and presentation, which are practical life skills. Portfolios encourage authentic interdisciplinary links that cut across content areas, providing support for teacher collegiality, teaming, and integrated studies. For students, this helps break down artificial barriers that can separate subjects when the focus is almost entirely on content acquisition rather than application and use. (Contains 10 references.) (TD)
Literacy Portfolios: Looking Closely at Individual Learners. NCTE Reading Initiative
2001
The final result of this inquiry study will be the compilation of a Literacy Portfolio on a targeted reader. The data included within the portfolio will come from strategies and tools teachers were introduced to in Year One of the Reading Initiative and for which teachers gathered data both on themselves and on younger learners. The study revisits the concepts of miscue analysis, kidwatching, close observation, and what some educators call "case study." The overarching concept of Literacy Portfolio is used to pull all of these together. Teachers will be challenged to extend their knowledge and use of assessment tools, to suspend judgment about what the behaviors they observe might mean, and to carefully plan for future instruction-a process known as "assessment as inquiry." Finally, each teacher will organize all this information in a thoughtful and useful way. Lists 24 professional resources selections. (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 00 00 oo NCTE Reading Initiative Literacy Portfolios Looking Closely at Individual Learners The final result of this inquiry study will be the compilation of a Literacy Portfolio on a targeted reader. The data included within the portfolio will come from strategies and tools you were introduced to in Year One of the Reading Initiative and for which you gathered data both on yourself and younger learners. This study revisits the concepts of miscue analysis, kidwatching, close observation, and what some educators call "case study." We use the overarching concept of Literacy Portfolio to pull all of these together. You will be challenged to extend your knowledge and use of assessment tools, to suspend judgment about what the behaviors you observe might mean, and to carefully plan for future instructiona process known as assessment as inquiry. Finally, you will organize all this information in a thoughtful and useful way.
Teaching Portfolios: Synthesis of Research and Annotated Bibliography
1991
This literature review And annotated bibliography addresses teaching portfolios, utilized by teachers to improve and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in teaching. The document, organized into three sections, discusses several key issues related to teaching portfolios. The first section on issues in portfolio design and implementation includes: what is a teaching portfolio (or teaching dossier, as it is referred to in some of the higher education literature)?
Educational Administration Quarterly, 2003
A multiyear study of a small school district introducing the use of portfolios as part of a new evaluation system was conducted to determine the efficacy of portfolios in the evaluation of teacher performance both for accountability and professional development purposes. The portfolio system was found to be particularly useful in documenting teacher performance in the areas of assessment and
Assessment Portfolios as Opportunities for Teacher Learning. CRESST Report 736
National Center For Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing, 2008
This report is an analysis of the role of assessment portfolios in teacher learning. Over 18 months, 19 experienced science teachers worked in grade-level teams to design, implement, and evaluate assessments to track student learning throughout a curriculum unit, supported by semi-structured tasks and resources in assessment portfolios. Teachers had the opportunity to complete three assessment portfolios for two or three curriculum units. Evidence of teacher learning included (a) changes over time in the contents of 10 teachers' portfolios spanning Grades 1-9 and (b) the full cohort's self-reported learning in surveys and focus groups. Findings revealed that Academy teachers developed greater understanding of assessment planning, quality assessments and scoring guides, strategies for analysis of student understanding, and use of evidence to guide instruction. Evidence of broad impact on teacher learning was balanced by evidence of uneven growth, particularly with more advanced assessment concepts such as reliability and fairness as well as curriculum-specific methods for developing and using assessments and scoring guides. The findings point to a need for further research on ways to balance general approaches to professional development with content specific strategies to deepen teacher skill and knowledge. their contributions to the findings reported here. The professional development team was co-directed by Kathy Diranna (WestEd) and Craig Strang (Lawrence Hall of Science), and the team consisted of