Portfolio Assessment: The Student's Role

Jan 9, 2011
Lisa Hughes

Portfolio Assessment - Photo by Lisa Hughes

This article addresses the roles and choices that students have when compiling a Portfolio Assessment based on researched best practice.

Before jumping into student responsibility and choice with the portfolio, it’s important to begin by establishing your goals of this assessment and then you must consider the basic content of the portfolio.

Revision

Though revision is a prominent part of the portfolio, surprisingly my research did not really address what this element of the process would look like. However, according to Willa Wolcott and Sue Legg, it was agreed that portfolios promote the concept of revision, and “whenever possible, learners should have the opportunity to plan and assess their own learning" (Barrett). Future investigation into the portfolio process would certainly need to include a detailed reflection on the revision process and how it translates into a portfolio assessment.

Student Choice

Nearly all current research suggests that student choice must be an integral part of a solid portfolio assessment. Stressing the importance of independence, like many others, teachers Kathryn Howard and Mary Ann Smith, in The Whole Story, believe that student choice helps develop the significant skill of judgment. For California elementary teacher, Joni Chancer, “Student ownership is encouraged, demonstrated, and celebrated by the teacher” (The Whole Story). Celeste Diehm, too, gets her students involved by having them select their top five pieces.

The Northwest Evaluation Association, an educational group that my own school depends on for credential support, encourages student selection, actually claiming it is, along with self-reflection, a mandatory element of portfolios.

Self-Reflection

Coming in many forms, self-reflection is by far the most talked about element of portfolios among the sources that I studied. According to Wolcott and Legg's "Portfolio Assessment", “such metacognition – or the students’ self-awareness not only of progress made but also of areas yet to be learned—indicates higher-order thinking and is critical in order for students to develop," which means portfolios actually lend themselves well to 21st century skills.

Mirroring my current practices, three stages of the reflection process are described as: 1) a summary of process, 2) an explanation of what has been learned, and 3) a commitment to new goals set by the student. Below is a modified compilation of guided reflection questions posed by Wolcott and Legg:

Of all the papers that you have written so far this term, which one do you consider to be your best? Why?
Why did you write that piece? Where did you get your ideas?
Who is the audience? How did that affect your writing?
What skills did you work on in this piece? Did you try anything new?
What is the greatest strength of that paper?
Do you think it still needs some improvement? In what areas? What parts flowed and what parts took more time?
If you received response, what was it? What did others like about your piece? What suggestions did they make?
What parts did you rework? What were your revisions?
What paper gave you the most difficulty in writing this term? Why do you think that was so?
How do you plan to improve that paper?
In what areas do you feel you are making progress as a writer?
In what areas do you think to need to improve as a writer?
Have you felt as though you could take some “risks” in your writing this term since you usually have the chance to revise? Why or why not?

Of course, students would not likely answer all of those questions in one setting or even at all, but the fact remains that reflection needs to be regularly taught; it cannot just be assumed.

Some required reflections go so far as necessitating student justification of how they have met the standards. One Rhode Island school district believes “when a student has to defend why an entry in his or her portfolio fulfills a particular learning expectation, the student will more thoroughly understand that expectation” (Niguidula). Certainly, whatever the specifics, reflection, and Barrett claims, “can help students understand their own learning."

The next step? Going digital! With a foundation based in best practice, the natural progression deeper into the 21st century would be with the sister of traditional portfolios – blogfolios – which could open up a whole new set of possibilities.

Works Cited

Barrett, Helen C. “Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement: The REFLECT Initiative,” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 50.6 (Mar. 2007): 436-449.

Diehm, Celeste. “From Worn-Out to Web-Based: Better Student Portfolios,” Phi Delta Kappan (June 2004): 792-794.

Niguidula, David. “Documenting Learning with Digital Portfolios,” Educational Leadership (Nov. 2005): 44-47.

The Whole Story: Teachers Talk About Portfolios, edited by Mary Ann Smith and Jane Juska. Berkeley: National Writing Project, 2001.

Wolcott, Willa, and Sue M. Legg. “Portfolio Assessment.” In An Overview of Writing Assessment: Theory, Research, and Practice, 36-59. Urbana, Il.: NCTE, 1998.