Updated: Mar 2000 | Assessment - Classroom Approaches | Portfolios

Assessment - Portfolios

A portfolio is more than a 'folder' of student work; it is a deliberate, specific collection of accomplishments. Hamm, M. & Adams D., Portfolio assessment. Science Teacher, (1991), pp.20

These are collections of students' work that connect separate items to form clearer and fuller pictures of each student as a learner.

Portfolios are, however, selective examples of students' learning progress: they are not complete records of all work done.

They can contain a range of assessments, such as observation checklists, logs, journals, video-cassettes, audiocassettes, pictures, projects, performances, anecdotal records, whole-class profiles, parent surveys, formal test results or narrative report cards. These different types of assessments allow students to display every aspect of their capabilities.

A portfolio contains separate pieces that may not mean much by themselves, but, when taken together, produce an accurate and holistic portrait of the student.

A portfolio may cover one, several or all learning areas. It can be sent home at the end of the year or stored in the school and passed on from year to year: for example, pre-primary teachers could include all learning areas in one portfolio; primary teachers could have students keep a portfolio of certain learning areas; and secondary teachers could have students keep quarterly, semester or yearly portfolios that would eventually become employment portfolios when they graduated.

Sometimes students leaving one year group share their portfolios with new students so the latter know what to expect. Some schools allow students to keep their portfolios to monitor their own development over the years and to help them evaluate their own progress. Some portfolios are assessed on the basis of predetermined criteria, while others are used to help students reflect on their own progress and set their goals for the future.

Hansen (1992) recommends, for example, using portfolios because they provide opportunities for students to:

	discuss their work with peers, teachers, and parents.
	demonstrate skills and understandings.
	reflect on work done.
	set future goals.
	document their development and growth in ability, attitudes and expression.
	exhibit different learning styles, multiple intelligences, cultural diversity.
	make critical choices about what they select.
	trace the development of their learning.
	make connections between prior knowledge and new learning.

Portfolio-based assessment can provide a context where students can learn to regard assessment as an occasion for learning. Wolf, D., Bixley, J., Glenn III, J. and Gardiner, H., To Use Their Minds Well: Investigating New Forms of Student Assessment. Review of Research in Curriculum (1991) pp.31-37

There are a number of decisions that must be made if portfolios are to be used:

	Why do we want to use them?
	How should the pieces be selected for them?
	What specific pieces should be included?
	What are the evaluation options and how will pieces be assessed?
	Should portfolios be organised across learning areas and across the school?
	What are the options for conducting portfolio conferences?
	Will portfolios move with students from one year to the next or from one school to another and, if they do, will they contain all or selected pieces?
	Will they be used for student self evaluation, peer evaluation and reporting to parents?
	Will they form part of a summative assessment?
	How will they contribute to the process of monitoring students' progress and making judgements of achievement in relation to the Student Outcome Statements?