latest on student portfolios, The

NEA Today, Nov 1996

Definition, please. Student portfolios are, literally, folders that contain collections of student work. They're used to show student learning and measure academic progress over time.

Samples of student work can be collected on paper, in photographs, on audio tape, videotape, computer disk, or CD-ROM. In some places, material may be placed in portfolios by the student, the teacher, or even the student's family.

In addition to student work, portfolios may contain student's own evaluations of their work, parent's reflections on the portfolio contents, and assessments made by teachers.

* How hot? "Hot, hot, hot," says Joan Herman, associate director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Testing at UCLA.

"Portfolio assessment has become very popular," Herman says, "because it's seen as a natural way to integrate instruction and assessment. That makes sense-student portfolios contain the products of classroom work, and, appropriately designed, can show what students have learned."

Why bother? Many educators, particularly those involved in education reform efforts, see portfolio assessment as an alternative-or complement-to tests. "We were tired of apologizing for test results that we knew were inaccurately reporting a child's progress to parents," says one kindergarten teacher who adopted portfolios as a complement to her whole language curriculum.

Other educators drawn to portfolios find them helpful in assessing how much students are really learning over time, gauging how well they are teaching, improving communication with parents, involving students in their own learning, increasing students' self-esteem, and providing information on how to adjust course content to meet students' needs.

How do they work? To use portfolios effectively, many experts say, educators must be clear on two things: 1) the purpose portfolios will serve, and 2) how the student work collected in them will be evaluated. On the first point, educators often use different types of portfolios to serve different purposes. Sometimes, portfolios are designed to serve largescale assessment purposes-to provide the public and policy makers with information on how students are doing.

Other times, portfolios are intended for classroom teaching and learning purposes. Showcase portfolios, for example, celebrate the best work a student has done. Descriptive portfolios demonstrate what a student can do, but don't evaluate it. Evaluative portfolios are used for the sole purpose of assessing the quality of student work. And progress portfolios show student work in a particular subject areawriting, for example-over time.

When it comes to using portfolios to grade student work, many educators stumble. "The assessment part is the hardest thing for teachers to do," says Herman. "They have to figure out what makes for high quality student work and think about the specific qualities they are looking for."

Any downside? Yes. "The realities of cost and feasibility for large-scale assessment purposes are a source of cold water," says UCLA's Herman.

For example, teachers in Vermont and Kentucky began to use portfolios in the early 1990s to assess student progress statewide. Such large-scale experiments required huge investments in time for training, developing evaluation criteria, reviewing portfolios, and accurately scoring openended work. As a result, many teachers felt unprepared and resentful.

Any unexpected conse Quences? Many teachers who use portfolio assessment find that it inspires them to dramatically change how and what they teach.

"I realized," says Iowa teacher Donald Daws, "that if I truly believed in the process, then I could no longer have students move in a lock-step fashion through the textbook." Who's behind portfolio assessment?

Nearly all big-name advocates of education innovation-including Ted Sizer, Howard Gardner, Lauren Resnick, and many others-back alternative assessment methods, including some use of student portfolios. Who's throwing stones? Those who object to portfolio use come from many camps. Some educators consider it a fad. Others oppose portfolios simply because their use is imposed by state law or districtwide dictate. Still others find portfolios too time-consuming or too difficult to evaluate consistently and fairly.

Some parents oppose portfolio use because they prefer grading systems that are more traditional, easier to understand, and more aligned with "the basics." Others find portfolioslike journals-too personal, too intrusive, and too much of an opportunity for kids to reflect on or question their surroundings. Finally, some educators and researchers worry that aggregating the results of portfolios for accountability purposes provides technically inaccurate information.

Where's the NEA on this? "Student portfolios more accurately reflect what children are learning," says Lynn Coffin, director of the NEA National Center for Innovation. "That's why NEA supports these and other forms of alternative assessments"

Need more information? Check out the following resources: > Student Portfolios, one of the NEA Professional Library Teacher-toTeacher Books, includes first-hand accounts of portfolio use. To get the NEA member price of $9.95 plus s&h, use stock #2901-1-10-F. To order, call 800/2294200.