Overheads for Unit 8--Chapter 12 (Portfolios)
OH 1
Portfolios—Varied Uses in Education
- Evaluating student progress
- Meeting graduation requirements
- Applying for college or jobs
- Assessing entire schools
- Certifying new teachers (INTASC)
- Certifying master teachers (NBPTS)
OH 2
Portfolio: Definition
Portfolio = purposeful collection of student work
- Not
just a folder of work, but--
- Work selected to serve particular purpose (e.g., document growth, certify achievement)
- May contain examples of best work of different types (e.g., book review, creative story, persuasive essay)
- Usually a "self-portrait" that benefited from guidance and feedback
Note: The label "portfolio" is often misapplied to unorganized collections of work
OH 3
Examples of Portfolios
Graduation (p. 298)
- Central Park East Secondary School
- See the 14 categories of entries in Table 12.1 (p. 299)
Vermont’s evaluation of math and writing achievement (pp. 298-300)
- Grades 4 and 8
- Math portfolios
- Comprised of 5-7 "best" pieces of work
- Rated in central location on 4-point scale along 7 dimensions (see box on p. 300)
- Writing portfolios
- 6 components: table of contents, single best piece, and 4 specified kinds of writing
- 4-point rating scales along 5 dimensions, one set each for "best" piece of work and for rest of portfolio
- Research on the portfolios
- Enhanced instruction
- Could not be reliably rated
Pittsburgh’s evaluation of writing (pp. 300-302)
- grades 6-12
- 4 specified pieces of writing
- drafts and reflections as well as final version
- 6-point rating scales along 3 dimensions
- research on portfolios
- enhanced instruction
- had acceptable rater reliability with careful planning, clear guidelines for portfolios, refined scoring procedures, and rater training ("difficult but not impossible")
Classroom portfolios
- high school science (pp. 302-303)
- primary school math (p. 303)
OH 4
Portfolios: Strengths and Weaknesses
Potential Strengths
- Readily integrated with instruction
- Provide students a chance to show what they can do
- Foster self-evaluation skills
- Foster responsibility for own learning
- Communicate student progress to parents
- Give students a role in parent-teacher conferences
Weaknesses
- Time consuming for students (to assemble)
- Time consuming for teachers (to guide and give feedback)
- Low reliability for summative evaluations
- Different activities for different students (a strength) can lead to unfairness in evaluation
- However, standardizing to increase their reliability can undermine their utility
Tough questions about collaborative work
- If students work in groups, who should decide who works together--students or teachers?
- Should the groups be homogeneous or heterogeneous in achievement?
- How do you decide whose achievement the work represents?
OH 5
Five Steps in Creating and Using Portfolios
- Specify purpose
- Provide guidelines for selecting entries
- Define student role in selecting entries and evaluating self
- Specify evaluation criteria
- Use portfolios in instruction and communication
OH 6
Using Portfolios: Step 1—Specify Primary Purpose
Four dimensions/emphases in purpose
Note: These are not mutually exclusive. For example, recall that good assessment is part of good instruction.
- assessment vs. instruction
- current accomplishments vs. past progress
- showcase (the "best") vs. documentation (representative work)
- finished vs. working portfolios
Essential to clarify purpose because
- Different purposes require different kinds of portfolios
- Without clear purpose, portfolios become indistinguishable from unorganized collections
- Without clear purpose, they may be ineffective or counterproductive
OH 7
1st Dimension of Purpose: Instructional vs. Assessment
When emphasis mostly on instructional purposes
- teaches students bases for selecting high quality entries
- their entries provide information on achievement
- teaches students how to reflect on the quality of their work
- their entries demonstrate self-evaluation
skills
- focuses discussion on criteria of excellence
- students internalize performance standards
- teaches students how to communicate with different audiences (e.g.,
parent, other students) and in different ways (e.g., oral presentations,
tapes, slides)
- has student-directed teacher-parent conferences
- displays student thought processes and awareness of performance standards to parents
When emphasis mostly on assessment purposes
- Must clarify whether purpose is formative or summative
- When formative, portfolios might
- compare work over long period
- include different stages in completing an entry
- When summative for students (e.g., for giving grades, diplomas, or honors), portfolios require
- comparable kinds of entries from different students
- very clear guidelines
- When summative for states or districts (e.g., accountability), portfolios require
- comparable kinds of entries from different students
- very clear guidelines
- more uniform and refined scoring systems
OH 8
2nd Dimension of Purpose: Current Accomplishments vs.
Progress
When emphasis on current accomplishment
- usually includes only finished work
- may cover only a brief time period
When emphasis on progress
- often includes multiple versions of same work (e.g., outlines,
drafts, formative feedback, final version)
- usually covers a longer time period
OH 9
3rd Dimension of Purpose: Showcase vs. Documentation
When emphasis on showcase
- student selects entries for specific purpose and specific audience
- portfolio focuses on student’s strengths
When emphasis on documentation
- entries not limited to strengths
- entries illustrate both breadth and depth
OH 10
4th Dimension of Purpose: "Finished" vs.
Working
When emphasis on "finished"
- example: job application portfolio
- summative standards applied
- may be revised for next audience
When emphasis on working (when portfolio is treated as a "work in
progress")
- formative (less critical) standards applied
- for teacher: often provides day-to-day information
- for student: provides timely feedback
OH 11
Using Portfolios: Step 2—Specify Guidelines for
Entries
Aim
- To clarify purpose for everyone involved
- To be specific enough without overly constraining creativity
- For summative purposes, to assure fairness by assuring comparable kinds of entries from different students
Guidelines—Clarify all of the following:
- How portfolios will be used
- Who will see the portfolios
- Types of work that are appropriate to include (e.g., drafts or only finished work? videos and tapes too?)
- Varieties of entries (form and content) that are required vs. optional
- Minimum (and maybe maximum) number of entries
- Forms of self-evaluation and self-reflection to be included
- Timeline for entries
- Role of collaboration in producing entries (e.g., only independent work? assistance allowed?)
- Criteria for evaluating individual entries as well as the overall portfolio
- Physical structure (e.g., binder? table of contents?)
OH 12
Using Portfolios: Step 3—Define Student Role in Selecting and Evaluating Entries
Why?
- Because much of the strength of portfolios is in having students themselves select and reflect upon their work
Aim
- Have guidelines clearly reflect goals for learning
- See examples on p. 305
Challenge (in guiding student selection of entries)
- To constrain selection of entries sufficiently so they actually meet intended learning goals, but not so much that independence and creativity are stifled
Helpful technique (in promoting self-reflection)
- Have students fill out brief forms for each entry that require self-reflection
- See example on pp. 306-307
OH 13
Using Portfolios: Step 4—Specify Evaluation Criteria
Absolutely essential prerequisite
- To have your goals clearly in mind!
Role of evaluation criteria
- To clarify learning goals for students, parents, teacher
- To enhance fairness (more comparable submissions, more consistent ratings)
Scoring rubrics
- Formative purposes generally require analytical rubrics
- Holistic ratings may be fine for summative purposes
- See specific examples of rubrics for portfolios
- for high school diploma (p. 308)
- for state evaluation of science achievement (p. 309)
- for evaluation of progress in math (p. 310)
Rater errors
- Portfolios are afflicted by all the errors described in earlier weeks
- Rater biases may be reduced by concealing student identities on individual entries
- Where identities cannot be concealed, teacher might rate the portfolio again and compare the two ratings
- Teacher might ask someone else also to rate a few and then compare the ratings
OH 14
Using Portfolios: Step 5—Use for Instruction and
Communication
To repeat, portfolios
- Are readily integrated into instruction
- Can enhance student skills in self-evaluation and independent learning, not just content knowledge
- Help communicate learning goals to students and parents
- Allow students to demonstrate their thinking and learning to parents and others
But in addition
- For teachers: Observing portfolios in progress provides them another basis for on-going planning and formative evaluation
- For parents: Reviewing portfolios gives them a window into their child’s learning and classroom activities