Evaluating administrators with portfolios: principals report mostly positive experiences when used as part of a performance review

School Administrator, Oct, 2004 by Alexander Russo

In fact, the documents included in a portfolio ultimately may have less importance than the thinking and writing that goes into explaining their importance. The reflection may be as important if not more so than the items that are included.

"The main thing we stress is not the artifacts but the reflection piece," says Brown, whose book on using portfolios for evaluating administrators includes an entire chapter on the importance of self-reflection. "Reflection improves practice and thus schools. It's the reflection that makes the difference." Her co-author, education professor Eileen Irby, echoes this sentiment: "It's not so much the portfolio itself. It is the process of developing a portfolio and the thinking."

Preventing Misuse

For all of these benefits, it remains clear portfolios still can be misused or superficial or unnecessarily time-consuming, just like any other form of evaluation. A portfolio no more represents proof that something was done or done well or had a positive outcome than an oral response in an interview or the results of a survey. And portfolios are just as susceptible to being manipulated or gamed as any other form of evaluation.

Thinking carefully about how much time portfolios take to put together and to evaluate is a key consideration, according to those who have experience using them.

"When we first developed the portfolio system, it was annual," says Beers, whose district found that requiring new portfolios every year was an unrealistic expectation for most principals and ignored differences in how much evaluation is needed for proven and novice school leaders, as well as among principals and other administrators. "It became too much for them to compile right at the end of the year."

Principals tend to agree. "It's time consuming to put together," says Buck, principal of Graham Elementary School in Talladega, Ala., of the 11 sections required in his portfolio and the giant three-ring binder it takes to hold all of the material. "For each of those entries there has to be a page that describes what audience this particular artifact is written for, why that is a good example." Buck figures his yearly portfolio includes more than 30 pages of new text and reflection.

For school districts or states trying to move to online portfolios, the process is especially challenging. "Moving from paper to technology is painful," says Colton, leadership development director in Broward County, Fla.

Her school district is moving to electronic portfolios for evaluating administrators who want to qualify for a salary bonus for excellence. To do so, they must submit a portfolio documenting their work in electronic form. To assist the process, the school district developed a web-based format allowing candidates to respond to questions, write essays and upload materials.

One way to help ensure a portfolio program is not overly time-consuming is to roll it out slowly rather than all at once, refining it along the way. In Broward County, the district leadership decided not to require the portfolio for all administrators at first. Instead, the portfolios are being piloted for two years with a subset of fewer than 100 administrators who wanted the top recognition level.