1. Topic 7: Portfolio Assessment

2. What is a Portfolio?
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.
A portfolio is a formative assessment that measures the progress of a student, as well as his strengths and challenges.
A good portfolio will be a broad spectrum of a student's work, and will serve as not only a place to store completed work, but will also include self-reflections and recommendations for improvement.
According to Sweet (1993) "A portfolio is a folder containing a student's best pieces and the student's evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the pieces. It may also contain one or more works-in-progress that illustrate the creation of a product, such as an essay, evolving through various stages of conception, drafting, and revision”

3. What is a Portfolio?
Portfolio can be used for many purposes, communication (with parents), development/progress evaluation and program assessment.
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)

4. What is portfolio assessment?
Portfolio assessment is an assessment form that children do together with their teachers, and is an alternative to the classic classroom test.
The portfolio contains samples of the children/student work and shows growth over time.
Important keyword
Reflection: By reflection on their own workstudent begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own work (self-assessment). The weaknesses then become improvement goals. In portfolio assessment it is the quality that counts, not the quantity.
Learning objectives - Each portfolio entry needs to be assessed with reference to its specific learning objectives or goals. Different schools may create different forms of portfolios
What is portfolio assessment?

5. Portfolio assessment
Portfolio assessment is important because it measures the progress of a student and examines the instructional process, not just the final product.
Portfolios assessments can provide multiple levels of learning evidence and demonstrate what a student knows and how he uses this knowledge.
The contents of portfolios (artifacts /evidence) can include drawings, photos, video or audio tapes, writing or other work samples, computer disks, and copies of standardized or program-specific tests.
Data sources can include parents, staff, and other community members who know the participants or program, as well as the self-reflections of participants themselves.
Therefore a solid portfolio can truly assess a student's development.

6. Function of Portfolio assessment
The function of a portfolio assessment is to measure progress of a particular process over a specified length of time.
Before beginning a portfolio, the student must be aware of the goals she is trying to accomplish with this project (if not she will be confused as to what artifacts to include).
According to Sewell, Marczack and Horn, "If goals and criteria have been clearly defined, the 'evidence' in the portfolio makes it relatively easy to demonstrate that the individual or population has moved from a baseline level of performance to achievement of particular goals.“
A portfolio functions as a place to store materials so they are not forgotten and so that the student can continuously reflect on her growth in that particular subject area.

7. Why Use a Portfolio? Portfolios can enhance the assessment process by:
revealing a range of skills and understandings of students’
Supporting instructional goals;
reflect change and growth over a period of time;
encourage student, teacher, and parent reflection;
provide for continuity in education from one year to the next.
Instructors can use them for a variety of specific purposes, including:
Encouraging self-directed learning.
Enlarging the view of what is learned.
Fostering learning about learning.
Demonstrating progress toward identified outcomes.
Creating an intersection for instruction and assessment.
Providing a way for students to value themselves as learners.
Offering opportunities for peer-supported growth.
Portfolios can record both final products and students' ongoing thinking reflections and decision-making processes

8. Characteristics of an Effective Portfolio?
Portfolio assessment is a multi-faceted process characterized by the following recurrent qualities:
It is continuous and ongoing, providing both formative (ongoing) and summative (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
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.

9. Characteristics of an Effective Portfolio?
Although approaches to portfolio development may differs, but most portfolios have the following characteristics:
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.

10. Types of Portfolios There are many different types of portfolios.
Each types 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
Process Portfolio
Showcase Portfolio

11. Types of Portfolios: Documentation Portfolio
The Documentation Portfolio 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 best and weakest of student work.

12. Types of Portfolios: 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.
The process portfolio emphasizes students' reflection upon their learning process, including the use of reflective journals, think logs, and related forms of metacognitive processing.

13. Types of Portfolios: Showcase Portfolio
It 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.
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 used to determine which works are included.

14. What Are the Phases of Portfolio Development?
3 phases in porfolio development:
Phase One: Organization and Planning
Phase Two: Collection
Phase Three: Reflection

15. Phases One of Portfolio Development
Organization and Planning
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:
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?

16. Phase Two of Portfolio Development
Collection
This process involves the collection of meaningful artifact 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 artifact and products should be based upon a variety of factors that can include:
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.

17. Phase three of Portfolio Development
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.

18. How Can Portfolios Be Evaluated?
"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”.
(Paulson, Paulson and Meyer;1991, p. 63)

19. How Can Portfolios Be Evaluated?
Teachers normally have multiple scoring strategies to evaluate:
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.
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).

20. Difference Between Portfolio Assessment & a Standard Classroom Test?
Progress
Reflection
Ownership
Grading

21. Difference Between Portfolio Assessment & a Standard Classroom Test?
Progress -Exams and portfolios measure different levels of student progress over specific periods of time.
Classroom Test - the student's performance is determined by one class period on one day. Success on an exam depends on how much a student studies and comprehends the material,
Portfolio measures a much wider time period, as students often include multiple drafts of essays or their body of work composed over the course of a semester. Success of a portfolios focus on the overall learning progress a student makes and the effort they put into the project.

22. Difference Between Portfolio Assessment & a Standard Classroom Test?
Reflection
In a traditional exam, the student's ability to answer the questions correctly is the only factor that can pass him/her.
In portfolios - allow for direct input from students. Portfolios often require a self-evaluation component, such as a reflective essay, that lets students describe their overall experience in the class and the portfolio creation process. It lets students practice critical thinking, letting them decide how well the portfolio measures up to course goals and standards.

23. Difference Between Portfolio Assessment & a Standard Classroom Test?
Degree of Student Ownership
Test - Because every student takes the same test and is judged according to correct and incorrect answers, traditional exams let them play a very small role in their evaluation.
In portfolio evaluation - both students and teachers involved in the process. Portfolios let students take ownership of their evaluation by showcasing their struggles and accomplishments and enabling communication with the teacher in a way traditional exams don't allow for.

24. Difference Between Portfolio Assessment & a Standard Classroom Test?
Grading
Teachers ultimately use two different grading methods to score tests and portfolios.
Traditional exams are more convenient to grade overall, as they involve marking incorrect answers and calculating a numerical grade.
Portfolios require teachers to establish their own specific grading criteria.
Even after they determine this grading scale, it still may be hard to maintain objectivity, since the students' reflections and perspectives are part of the evaluation.
Grading portfolios is also much more time consuming; teachers must not only read the students' work, but write comments explaining and justifying their evaluation.

25. Advantages Of Using Portfolio Assessment
Allows the evaluators to see the student each unique with its own characteristics, needs, & strengths.
Serves as a cross-section lens, providing a basis for future analysis and planning. By viewing the total pattern of the students’ development, one can identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, and barriers to success.
Serves as a concrete vehicle for communication, providing ongoing communication or exchanges of information among those involved.
Promotes a shift in ownership; student can take an active role in examining where they have been and where they want to go.
Portfolio assessment offers the possibility of addressing shortcomings of traditional assessment. It offers the possibility of assessing the more complex and important aspects of an area or topic.
Covers a broad scope of knowledge and information, from many different people who know the program or person in different contexts ( eg., participants, parents, teachers or staff, peers, or community leaders).

26. Disadvantages Of Using Portfolio Assessment
 May be seen as less reliable or fair than more quantitative evaluations such as test scores.
Can be very time consuming for teachers or program staff to organize and evaluate the contents, especially if portfolios have to be done in addition to traditional testing and grading.
Having to develop your own individualized criteria can be difficult or unfamiliar at first.
If goals and criteria are not clear, the portfolio can be just a miscellaneous collection of artifacts that don't show patterns of growth or achievement.
Like any other form of qualitative data, data from portfolio assessments can be difficult to analyze or aggregate to show change.