PME 827 Module 1 Portfolios By: Neil Westcott

Portfolios have been used in many different industries, including education, for
quite a while. Various purposes for using portfolios include; showing what a student has
learned over time, collecting student work to reflect on or for critique, showcasing
professional work, or for marketing and business development. (Ling 2016) Portfolios
are extremely versatile because they may be used to show off certain skills, highlight a
subject area, be presented to help with college admission or demonstrate community
service. They are not just a collection of work samples, though. A portfolio is a
purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the students efforts, progress, and
achievements in one or more areas. The collection must include student participation in
selecting contents, the criteria for selection the criteria for judging merit, and evidence
for student self-reflection. (Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, 1991)

There are many possible benefits related to the use of portfolio assessment,
especially in writing. They include the ability to assemble a group of texts to show the
learning process, to reflect on and revise texts, peer and self-assessment, self-reflection
and to highlight how texts were selected for inclusion in the portfolio. (Burner (2014)
Evidence also suggests that using alternative methods of assessment, including
portfolios, leads to increased student motivation. (Petre, 2014) Also, these studies
suggest that if the distinct steps of collection, selection and reflection in the portfolio
creation process are followed, building a portfolio can improve students critical thinking
skills as well as increase their motivation to learn.

A number of factors will influence the decision about which type of portfolio to use
and it is vital to decide on the purpose of the portfolio in advance. Is it meant to show
improvement over time or will the portfolio be used to demonstrate skill mastery? Will it
cover one unit, a semester or a whole years work? One subject or many? Also, a
decision needs to made regarding who will view the portfolio and when. While all of
these questions might provide reasons why more teachers dont use portfolios more
often, it is crucial to make decisions about a portfolios purpose before it is begun.
(McDonald, 2011) Three distinct purposes for portfolios exist.

Working (Growth) Portfolios

In a working portfolio, student work is collected to show progression towards meeting

curriculum objectives. All stakeholders must understand that the purpose of working
portfolios is formative in nature. It may contain work in progress as well as completed
student work. Pieces are collected in it until they are used in another type of portfolio or
sent home. The main objective of collecting work in this manner is to help with student
learning needs, such as with writing samples that help teachers identify areas for
improvement or for students to better understand their own writing style. A working
portfolio can be shown to parents to demonstrate skills and progress or perhaps to
indicate that student progress in an area is lacking. For students, working portfolios can
provide an opportunity for reflection, because students compare various samples of
their work to decide which pieces they will select to include for later use, such as in a
display portfolio. (Danielson and Abrutyn)
PME 827 Module 1 Portfolios By: Neil Westcott

Display (Showcase) Portfolios

Display portfolios are used to demonstrate evidence of students having met curriculum
objectives, but may also be used to show achievements from outside school. They may
be added to each year, or be re-created yearly. They typically show a students best
work, what they are proud of, or who they are. Students make their selections from
work they have completed and their selections help to represent who they are as
learners. As such, display portfolios are typically for the students themselves, but are
also shared with parents, siblings, and teachers. For older students, they can also be
shown to college recruiters and other interested parties. (Danielson and Abrutyn)

When asking students to create a display portfolio, care needs to be taken to ensure
that the process allows for significant student voice in the creative direction and
ownership of the portfolio. (Barrett, 2006) One issue with students selecting and
producing work to showcase is that often the work selected has been supported to a
higher standard in order for it to qualify as a portfolio piece. Often, guidelines put in
place by teachers to standardize the look of a student portfolio mean that students own
neither the process, nor the final product that they ultimately display.

Assessment (Evaluation) Portfolios

Assessment portfolios document student learning in particular curriculum areas. As

such, the term, contents, and subject(s) that the portfolio will show obviously need to be
selected before the contents can be assembled for assessment. While writing is the
most obvious subject choice for an assessment portfolio, there are teachers in other
subject areas, such as Physics, that are taking advantage of the flexibility that portfolios
offer. (Ling, 2016) One problem with using portfolios for assessment purposes is
highlighted by Heller, Sheingold and Myford. In their study, they found that portfolio
raters omitted essential processes or used inappropriate criteria to assess portfolios.
Their work highlights the subjectivity of portfolio assessment while pointing out the need
for clear, unambiguous rating scales. Another problem with assessing portfolios is
mentioned by Herman, Gearhart and Baker. They raise the question about portfolio
ownership and whether the work produced is really the students own. Mueller (2016)
suggests a number of inclusions, such as rubrics, tests and scores, as well as parent,
teacher and student self-reflections that might make a portfolio more representative.

Perhaps the last word about portfolios should be devoted to electronic portfolios. E-
portfolios are easily adapted to any of the above portfolio uses. They are usually more
student directed, and allow for more customization than paper portfolios. In addition,
they are often easier for other stakeholders, such as parents and instructors, to access.
Possible drawbacks to using them include systems management issues, as well as
possible problems with privacy. E-portfolios represent a massive time investment,
especially for younger students, to acquire the technical skills to manage them properly
and get the best use out of them.
PME 827 Module 1 Portfolios By: Neil Westcott

References

Barrett, H. (2006) Using Electronic Portfolios for Formative/Classroom-based

Assessment. The REFLECT Initiative: Connected Newsletter. Retrieved from http://
electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/ConnectedNewsletter.pdf

Burner, T. (2014) The potential formative benefits of portfolio assessment in second and
foreign language writing contexts: A review of the literature. Studies in Educational
Evaluation (43), 139-149.

Danielson, C. and Abrutyn, L. (1997) Chapter One: The Types of Portfolios In

Introduction to Using Portfolios in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/
publications/books/197171/chapters/The-Types-of-Portfolios.aspx

Heller, J., Sheingold, K. and Myford C. (1998) Reasoning About Evidence in Portfolios:
Cognitive Foundations for Valid and Reliable Assessment. Educational Assessment.
(5)1, 5-40.

Herman, J., Gearhart, M., and Baker, E.. Assessing Writing Portfolios: Issues in the
Validity and Meaning of Scores. Educational Assessment. 1(3), 201-224.

Ling, M. (2016). The Use of Academic Portfolio in the Learning and Assessment of
Physics Students from a Singapore Private College. International Journal of
Assessment Tools in Education: (3) 2, 151-160.

McDonald, E. 2011. The New Teacher Advisor: Student Portfolios as an Assessment

Tool. Education World. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/
columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald025.shtml

Mueller, Jon. (2016) Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Portfolios. Retrieved from http://
jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/portfolios.htm

Paulson, F., Paulson, P. and Meyer, C. (1991). What Makes a Portfolio a Portfolio?
Educational Leadership. February 1991. Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/dept/
SUSE/projects/ireport/articles/e-portfolio/what%20makes%20a%20portfolio%20a
%20portfolio.pdf

Petre, A. (2014) Stimulating Learning Motivation of Early Education and Primary School
Students Through Alternative Methods of Assessment. Journal Plus Education. Special
Issue. (10) 2, 303-312.