Measuring Complex Achievement

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Measuring Complex Achievement

• Portfolios

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Portfolios

• Until recently, portfolios were a seldom heard
  word outside of art classes.
• During the 1990s portfolios became the latest
  trend in the assessment of students and
  prospective teachers.

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Portfolios

• portfolio (pôrt-fol-eeo) n., pl.
  portfolios. 1.a. A portable case for holding
  material, such as loose papers, photographs, or
  drawings. b. The materials collected in such a
  case, especially when representative of a
  person's work. (AHD)

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Portfolios

• Portfolio A purposeful collection of pieces of
  student work.
• (Linn Gronlund)
• Note a portfolio is NOT simply a folder with all
  your work in it.

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Portfolios

• Advantages
• Ease of integration with current instruction.
• Fosters students ability to evaluate their own
  work.
• Reinforces self evaluation and thoughtful
  reflection
• The unexamined life is not worth living
• Socrates

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Portfolios

• Advantages
• Communicates effectively with parents using
  concrete examples.
• Document development over time.

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Portfolios

• Limitations
• Incredibly time consuming to assemble.
• Incredibly time consuming to evaluate.
• Poor summative assessment
• Ratings are unreliable.
• Lack of standardization.
• Attempts to deal with the two issues above
  undermine the purpose and utility of the
  portfolio.
• The naïve belief that they are easy to create.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Specify the purpose.
• Provide guidelines for selecting entries.
• Define the students role in selection and
  self-evaluation.
• Specify evaluation criteria.
• Use the portfolio in instruction and
  communication.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Specify the purpose.
• Current accomplishment vs. progress.
• Showcase vs. documentation.
• Formative vs. summative.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Provide guidelines for selecting entries.
• Guidelines for entries should be specific without
  being constraining.
• Use of the portfolio
• Who will see it
• What type of work would be appropriate
• Criteria for evaluation

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Provide guidelines for selecting entries.
• Media selection (e.g. videos, computer
  presentations, paper pencil work).
• Collaboration
• Time and number of entries.
• Format (print vs. electronic)

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Define the students role in selection and
  self-evaluation.
• The most important element in a meaningful
  portfolio project is the involvement of the
  student.
• Teachers should provide guidance to students, not
  simply tell them what to do.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Define the students role in selection and
  self-evaluation.
• Provide a form for students to indicate
• Formal definition of the principle.
• Personal statement of the principle.
• Events cited for the principle (i.e. how this
  event relates to the principle).
• Artifact of the event.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Evaluation Criteria
• Base evaluation on the instructional goals.
• Goals should be clear not only to the teacher,
  but also to the student, parents, and other
  stakeholders and evaluators.
• Develop a rubric to insure reliability of
  scoring.

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Steps for defining, implementing, and using
portfolios

• Use the portfolio in instruction and
  communication.
• Use the portfolio process to gauge your
  instructional effectiveness and make
  instructional decisions.
• The unexamined teacher is not worth
  employing Wareham?
• Use the portfolio as a means of communication
  with parents.

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Portfolios Final Thoughts

• Portfolios are somewhat like journals it is
  difficult to consistently work on them, but the
  rewards later in life are priceless.
• Your descendants will appreciate the personal
  contact they make with you through your portfolio
  long after you are gone.