Designing Portfolios

Portfolio definition for assessment a limited collection of a students work

Purpose: - Present the students best work, Demonstrate educational growth

Growth Portfolios
Examples:
Monitoring progress of individual students early drafts, records of ideas, final
product
Daily instruction recently completed work
Organization and contents
Initial planning purpose serve as a tool to monitor learning
Designing principles :
1. Clarity of learning targets
2. Understanding of learning progress theory
3. Collaborate if several teachers are committed to growth portfolios.
4. Rubrics define criteria, maintain consistency
What to put in the portfolio and the frequency of sample depends on learning
target.
E.g.:
Learning target choose to read a variety of materials.
Sample logs of books and articles read during a two week period
Frequency : two or three times a year.
Growth portfolios work best portfolio is center of instruction.
Characteristics of work included:
1. Authentic allow student to engage in thinking and abilities.
2. Record conceptual development students own understandings, explanations
and conceptual frameworks.
3. Engage in reflective activity use portfolio content as basis for discussions with
teacher.

Best Works Portfolios

Organized around learning targets
May contain examples of
investigations, curriculum concepts,
writing about the subjects.
Students prepare entries throughout
the year.
No time schedule portfolio due
date.
Teacher explain and suggest what to
include.
Effective portfolios emphasise:
same
standards
As in daily
curriculum
instruction
goals
learning
targets
evaluation
criteria
Organising portfolio:
1. Name
2. Date of entry
3. Title / description
4. Why entry is important
Too many entries:
1. Difficult to understand for
teacher
2. Confusing for students
3. Difficult and time-consuming for
evaluation.
Size of the portfolio
Validity and reliability how many
entries and varieties needed to
ensure representative sample of
students best work?
Is there consistency in scoring short
and long portfolios?
Reference: Brookhart & Nitko (2011)

Self-reflection in portfolios:
Enhance student learning
Substantive requires students to reason with subject
matter.
Develops metacognitive skills.
Qs to prompt self-reflection:
1. Process went through?
2. Points raised, responses, agreements &
disagreements.
3. Distinctness of most effective work from others
4. Relation to previous learning
5. Strengths and instances of unease.
Self reflection
No definite recommendations on use of self-reflection
as formal assessment of whether students actually do
the activities.
Maybe handled as informal formative evaluation.
6 steps to crafting a portfolio system:
No single set of guidelines as portfolios are used for a
wide range of formative and summative purposes.
General six steps:
Identify:
1. Purpose and focus
2. General achievement dimensions to be
assessed.
3. Appropriate organization
4. Portfolios use in practice fit into class routine?
5. Evaluation of portfolio entries
6. Evaluation of rubrics.
Electronic portfolios:
A digital portfolio
Can be in a local computer, CD, website etc.
Software student can add electronic documents,
images
Much wider range of samples possible
Digital format does not guarantee target achievement
Assessment quality principles apply.