Overheads for Unit 8--Chapter 12 (Portfolios)

• Evaluating student progress
• Meeting graduation requirements
• Applying for college or jobs
• Assessing entire schools
• Certifying new teachers (INTASC)
• Certifying master teachers (NBPTS)

Portfolio = purposeful collection of student work

• Not just a folder of work, but--
• Work selected to serve particular purpose (e.g., document growth, certify achievement)
• May contain examples of best work of different types (e.g., book review, creative story, persuasive essay)
• Usually a "self-portrait" that benefited from guidance and feedback

Note: The label "portfolio" is often misapplied to unorganized collections of work

• Central Park East Secondary School
• See the 14 categories of entries in Table 12.1 (p. 299)

• Grades 4 and 8
• Math portfolios
• Comprised of 5-7 "best" pieces of work
• Rated in central location on 4-point scale along 7 dimensions (see box on p. 300)
• Writing portfolios
• 6 components: table of contents, single best piece, and 4 specified kinds of writing
• 4-point rating scales along 5 dimensions, one set each for "best" piece of work and for rest of portfolio
• Research on the portfolios
• Enhanced instruction
• Could not be reliably rated

• grades 6-12
• 4 specified pieces of writing
• drafts and reflections as well as final version
• 6-point rating scales along 3 dimensions
• research on portfolios
• enhanced instruction
• had acceptable rater reliability with careful planning, clear guidelines for portfolios, refined scoring procedures, and rater training ("difficult but not impossible")

• high school science (pp. 302-303)
• primary school math (p. 303)

1. Readily integrated with instruction
2. Provide students a chance to show what they can do
3. Foster self-evaluation skills
4. Foster responsibility for own learning
5. Communicate student progress to parents
6. Give students a role in parent-teacher conferences

1. Time consuming for students (to assemble)
2. Time consuming for teachers (to guide and give feedback)
3. Low reliability for summative evaluations
4. Different activities for different students (a strength) can lead to unfairness in evaluation
5. However, standardizing to increase their reliability can undermine their utility

• If students work in groups, who should decide who works together--students or teachers?
• Should the groups be homogeneous or heterogeneous in achievement?
• How do you decide whose achievement the work represents?

1. Specify purpose
2. Provide guidelines for selecting entries
3. Define student role in selecting entries and evaluating self
4. Specify evaluation criteria
5. Use portfolios in instruction and communication

Note: These are not mutually exclusive. For example, recall that good assessment is part of good instruction.

1. assessment vs. instruction
2. current accomplishments vs. past progress
3. showcase (the "best") vs. documentation (representative work)
4. finished vs. working portfolios

1. Different purposes require different kinds of portfolios
2. Without clear purpose, portfolios become indistinguishable from unorganized collections
3. Without clear purpose, they may be ineffective or counterproductive

1. teaches students bases for selecting high quality entries
   • their entries provide information on achievement
2. teaches students how to reflect on the quality of their work
• their entries demonstrate self-evaluation skills
3. focuses discussion on criteria of excellence
• students internalize performance standards
4. teaches students how to communicate with different audiences (e.g., parent, other students) and in different ways (e.g., oral presentations, tapes, slides)
5. has student-directed teacher-parent conferences
• displays student thought processes and awareness of performance standards to parents

1. Must clarify whether purpose is formative or summative
2. When formative, portfolios might
• compare work over long period
• include different stages in completing an entry
3. When summative for students (e.g., for giving grades, diplomas, or honors), portfolios require
• comparable kinds of entries from different students
• very clear guidelines
4. When summative for states or districts (e.g., accountability), portfolios require
• comparable kinds of entries from different students
• very clear guidelines
• more uniform and refined scoring systems

 

OH 8
2^nd Dimension of Purpose: Current Accomplishments vs. Progress

When emphasis on current accomplishment

• usually includes only finished work
• may cover only a brief time period

When emphasis on progress

• often includes multiple versions of same work (e.g., outlines, drafts, formative feedback, final version)
• usually covers a longer time period

 

OH 9
3^rd Dimension of Purpose: Showcase vs. Documentation

When emphasis on showcase

• student selects entries for specific purpose and specific audience
• portfolio focuses on student’s strengths

When emphasis on documentation

• entries not limited to strengths
• entries illustrate both breadth and depth

 

OH 10
4^th Dimension of Purpose: "Finished" vs. Working

When emphasis on "finished"

• example: job application portfolio
• summative standards applied
• may be revised for next audience

When emphasis on working (when portfolio is treated as a "work in progress")

• formative (less critical) standards applied
• for teacher: often provides day-to-day information
• for student: provides timely feedback

 

OH 11
Using Portfolios: Step 2—Specify Guidelines for Entries

Aim

• To clarify purpose for everyone involved
• To be specific enough without overly constraining creativity
• For summative purposes, to assure fairness by assuring comparable kinds of entries from different students

Guidelines—Clarify all of the following:

1. How portfolios will be used
2. Who will see the portfolios
3. Types of work that are appropriate to include (e.g., drafts or only finished work? videos and tapes too?)
4. Varieties of entries (form and content) that are required vs. optional
5. Minimum (and maybe maximum) number of entries
6. Forms of self-evaluation and self-reflection to be included
7. Timeline for entries
8. Role of collaboration in producing entries (e.g., only independent work? assistance allowed?)
9. Criteria for evaluating individual entries as well as the overall portfolio
10. Physical structure (e.g., binder? table of contents?)




OH 12
Using Portfolios: Step 3—Define Student Role in Selecting and Evaluating Entries

Why?

• Because much of the strength of portfolios is in having students themselves select and reflect upon their work

Aim

• Have guidelines clearly reflect goals for learning
• See examples on p. 305

Challenge (in guiding student selection of entries)

• To constrain selection of entries sufficiently so they actually meet intended learning goals, but not so much that independence and creativity are stifled

Helpful technique (in promoting self-reflection)

• Have students fill out brief forms for each entry that require self-reflection
• See example on pp. 306-307

 

OH 13
Using Portfolios: Step 4—Specify Evaluation Criteria

Absolutely essential prerequisite

• To have your goals clearly in mind!

Role of evaluation criteria

• To clarify learning goals for students, parents, teacher
• To enhance fairness (more comparable submissions, more consistent ratings)

Scoring rubrics

• Formative purposes generally require analytical rubrics
• Holistic ratings may be fine for summative purposes
• See specific examples of rubrics for portfolios
• for high school diploma (p. 308)
• for state evaluation of science achievement (p. 309)
• for evaluation of progress in math (p. 310)

Rater errors

• Portfolios are afflicted by all the errors described in earlier weeks
• Rater biases may be reduced by concealing student identities on individual entries
• Where identities cannot be concealed, teacher might rate the portfolio again and compare the two ratings
• Teacher might ask someone else also to rate a few and then compare the ratings

 

OH 14
Using Portfolios: Step 5—Use for Instruction and Communication

To repeat, portfolios

• Are readily integrated into instruction
• Can enhance student skills in self-evaluation and independent learning, not just content knowledge
• Help communicate learning goals to students and parents
• Allow students to demonstrate their thinking and learning to parents and others

But in addition

• For teachers: Observing portfolios in progress provides them another basis for on-going planning and formative evaluation
• For parents: Reviewing portfolios gives them a window into their child’s learning and classroom activities