LESSON 22

Besigning Learning

Portfolios in
Social Studies
REPORTER:
ROSELYN S. GEROBIN
AVEGAIL C. SANDRINO
RUBY S. REGASPI
✓ Identify the nature and

relevance of portfolio

assessment

✓ Recognize the types and

characteristics of a

portfolio.

✓ Design your own

portfolio assessment

introduction.
In recent decades, the educational milieu has

drastically changed, moving away from the lenses of

traditional perspectives. In the field of assessment,

the traditional paper-and-pen type of test was

coupled with various alternative sources of learning

information. There existed performance assessment,

product assessment, authentic assessment, and

many others. Portfolio assessment is another

alternative assessment that can also cater to the

ends of both teachers and learners. A portfolio is a

collection of artifacts that were gathered in a

dynamic, purposeful, and ongoing process that

determines the learners' progress

Portfolio creation is a

systematic purposeful

process of collecting learners'

works to document their

efforts, achievement, and

toward the attainment of

learning targets. With the

emerging relevance of

portfolios in the field of

assessment, Seitz and

Bartholomew (2008)

enumerated some of portfolio

assessment's importance:
A. It emphasizes both content and

performance or holistic learning.

A portfolio is not merely a

collection of products but also

the lessons that the learners

gained in the process of making

the portfolio. Hence, to be able

to finish the portfolio, learners

must be exposed first to

requisite knowledge.
B. It connects children's products with

specific national standards.

This form of assessment aligns its

goals with what is required in the

curriculum. The performances or

products made by the students are

stored or collated in the portfolio.

Usually, the making of a portfolio

lasts until the end of the grading

period or even the school year. In

that, the learners may be able to see

their achievements and the

relevance of their output to the

curriculum and the subjects.

C. It highlights skills across the curriculum.
The nature of portfolio assessment

is that it does not confine its goals

to a specific discipline. It can also

surface and enhance skills that are

seen not only in social studies but

also in the languages,

mathematics, and science; for

example, writing an essay about

climate change, creating a photo

collage about the community, and

making a graphical representation

of fractions.
D. It demonstrates progress on specific,

individualized learning outcomes.

When implemented in an

individual manner, the learners

may have a grasp of their own

progress as compared to group

activities. Each learner can

track their learning by looking

at a very specific learning

target that they achieved

through the use of the portfolio.

E. It celebrates the child.
Among any other purpose of

portfolio assessment, the

optimum goal is to celebrate

the accomplishment of the

child, no matter how huge or

small the progress is. It allows

the learners to gain intrinsic

motivation as they also

socialize with others' progress.

 Types of Portfolio
A portfolio can actually be used in various

ways. It does not have a specific purpose and

usage. Teachers can create their own versions

of a portfolio, depending on the nature of

tasks or products they intend to collate. Here

are some types of portfolios that can be used

in social studies:
Types of Portfolio Purpose Artifacts to Collect

To show progress toward

Artifacts from before,

Growth one or
during, and after learning
more learning goals

To document the

All drafts of works during product or performance

Project trajectory of a
the creation of the product performance.
project

To demonstrate the

current level of

Achievement achievement over a

Artifacts compromising a representative sample of achievement
collection of learning

targets.

to provide evidence of

having attainted

Competence Artifacts representing the highest level of achievement

competence in one or

more areas.

To showcase the best

work or what
Celebration Learners' choice based on the quality of work or preference
the learner is most proud

of
Steps in Developing
PORTFOLIO

ASSESSMENT
Like any other assessment strategies, teachers must be

grounded on the processes of implementing portfolio

assessment. It is not like a type of that can be done in a short

while. Portfolio assessment necessitates time and effort from

both teachers and learners. As teachers and implementers of

assessment, you must know that there is no shortcut in

attaining the goals of portfolio assessment. Most of the time,

the success of this kind of assessment is dependent on how

teachers manifested the requisites of the portfolio assessment

and is greatly dependent on how they view the assessment

process. To give you an overview of how to implement the

portfolio assessment, here are the basic steps that you have to

keep in mind:
1. Identify the overall purpose and focus.
As teachers, you have to begin with the end in mind. This

principle means that you have to know the end goal of all

the activities that you implement inside the classroom.

Regarding the portfolio, you have to know the nature of the

evaluation, whether it is process-based or product-based. In

the process-based portfolio assessment, teachers give

more emphasis on the process of constructing and

completing the required elements. A product-based

portfolio gives more weight on the end product itself which is

reflective of the entire effort of the learners. Knowing the

purpose and focus of the portfolio positions the teachers in

a place of guiding and facilitating the learners and the

attainment of learning outcomes.

 2. Identify the physical structure.
After knowing the purpose, teachers can now decide on

the technical aspect. In here, they just have to assess the

best possible way to present the portfolio. As presented

in the figure, teachers can use a traditional portfolio

which is a tangible portfolio or an electronic portfolio

which can be presented in a compact disc (CD) or in a

universal serial bus (USB) flash drive. Keeping this in

mind, teachers can also infuse both the traditional and

electronic portfolios at the same time. Hence, whichever

the teachers use, it should be properly communicated in

detail so that learners will not get too stressed along the

way.
 3. Determine the sources of content.
A portfolio is not a mere collection of diversified sources. A good portfolio must

have a specific theme that learners and teachers must uphold. This is, most of
the time, dependent on the type of portfolio. To guide you in choosing the

sources of content, Musial (2009) identified several artifacts in social studies

portfolios, which are: presentation of a view of society; written description of

different cultures, institutions, and professions; discussion of equality, justice,

democracy, freedom, rights, and other large social concepts; drawing of

artifacts; timelines; position paper on social issues; investigation on social

issues; and proposal to respond to a social issue.

 4. Determine the student guideline.
Before implementing your portfolio assessment, make sure

that the learners are aware of the processes, content,

purpose, and the evaluation process. Allowing the students

to know these areas will help them in distinguishing what to

pursue and what should be given In the long run, it is

unavoidable that difficult circumstances may arise. During

these times, teachers must always back up the children as

a facilitator willing to help them achieve what is expected

of them. Here comes the principle of scaffolding where

teachers must give due support in the areas that are

unclear and difficult for the learners.

 5. Identify the scoring rubric

then evaluate.
Part of the success of portfolio assessment
is when teachers are able to create or adapt scoring rubrics

aligned with the learning targets. There are instances that

teachers use standardized scoring rubrics which leave a

great question on the reliability and validity of the results.

Hence, it is recommended that in creating and/or using

scoring rubrics, teachers must assess the alignment of the

criteria with the expected learning targets. This could easily

be seen by comparing each criterion to the learning

competencies (e.g., Criterion 1: excellently provides sound

argument vs. LC 1: creates a simple reaction paper on social

issues).
6. Communicate the results of

portfolio evaluation.
After fairly evaluating the portfolio, the terminal step of the

assessment process is the announcement of results. It is very

much important to emphasize their scores and how they

landed those scores. In that way, the children will know the

strengths of their portfolio which can actually allow them to

continue doing them. On the other hand, the weaknesses, just

the same with strengths, must also be pointed out as

references for them to avoid. However, teachers must keep in

mind that they are still dealing with children. The processing

of scores could actually make or break the children.

Therefore, the teachers must be guided regarding the proper

disclosure of scores.
Thank you
for
Listening!!