CHAPTER IV: PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

Key terms: portfolio assessment, student portfolio, portfolio, working portfolio, showcase
portfolio, progress portfolio

This chapter will discuss another method of assessing the performance of students’
product known as portfolio assessment. Portfolio assessment is an alternative way of
assessing students’ output to cater to different audiences and purposes.

PORTFOLIO
- the collection of students’ projects and works that exemplifies their skills, attitudes,
and interests within a certain period of time.
- a compilation of students' best works and materials which are essential to assess
their progress or achievement.

Examples: poems, songs, letters, drama scripts, drafted and revised stories, final solutions
in solving mathematics problems, etc.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
- documents the process of learning and the changes that occur during the
process.
- the systematic, longitudinal collection of student work created in response to
specific, known instructional objectives and evaluated in relation to the same
criteria (Ferenz, 2001).

STUDENT PORTFOLIO
- a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits their efforts, progress, and
achievements in one or more areas. This includes student participation in
selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and
evidences of student self-reflection (Paulson, Paulson, & Meyer, 1991 as cited by
Ferenz, 2001 in her article Using Student Portfolio for Outcomes Assessment).
- not a compilation of students’ previous works but a purposeful, selected samples
of student work. In doing so, a student gets to decide the type of story he/she
wants the portfolio to tell.

Example: If you want to highlight the progress the students have made in a particular
period of time, choose samples that will showcase their best work.

A portfolio should present:

 Students’ best work or best efforts
 Student-selected samples of work experiences
 Documents according growth and development toward mastering
identified outcomes

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND PORTFOLIO OLLECTION

Shaklee et al. (1997) gave the differences between portfolio collection and
portfolio assessment.
 Portfolio Collection
Why am I collecting evidence?
 for representative skills
 for areas of development
 for demonstrated ability
 for conferencing
 for reporting
Portfolio Assessment
How am I using the evidence?
 to offer the next level
 to promote development
 to document ability
 to modify instruction
 to adapt curriculum

COMPARISON OF PORTFOLIO AND TRADITIONAL FORMS OF ASSESSMENT

Ferenz (2001) pointed out the differences between traditional assessment and
portfolio assessment.

Traditional Assessment Portfolio Assessment

 Measures student's ability at
one time
 Done by the teacher alone;
students are not aware of
the criteria
 Conducted outside
instruction
 Assigns student a grade
 Does not capture the
students' language ability
 Does not include the
teacher's knowledge of
student as learner
 Does not give student
responsibility
 Measures student's ability over time
 Done by the teacher and the
students; students are aware of the
criteria
 Embedded in instruction
 Involves student in own assessment
 Capture many facets of language
learning performance
 Allows for expression of teacher's
knowledge of student as learner
 Student learns how to take
responsibility

THREE TYPES OF PORTFOLIO

1. WORKING PORTFOLIO
- Also known as the teacher-student portfolio, it is a "project at work" that contains
the work in progress and the finished samples of work used to reflect on the
activities done by the student and the teacher.
- It documents the stages of learning and provides a progressive record of student
growth.
- An interactive teacher-student portfolio that aids in communication between the
teacher and the student.
- It may be used to diagnose student needs. Both the student and the teacher are
aware of the former's strengths and weaknesses in achieving learning objectives.

2. SHOWCASE PORTFOLIO
- Also known as the best work portfolio or display portfolio, it focuses on the student's
best and most representative work.
- The best work portfolio documents the students' efforts with respect to curriculum
objectives.
- Includes the evidence of student activities done outside the school.
 - Encourages self-assessment and builds the self-esteem of students.

3. PROGRESS PORTFOLIO
- Also known as alternative assessment portfolio, it contains examples of students’
work with the same types done over a period of time which are then utilized to
assess their progress.
- All the works of the students in this type of portfolio are scored, rated, ranked, and
evaluated.
- This is a focused type of portfolio and is a model of the holistic approach to
assessment. (Columba & Dolgos, 1995)

Assessment portfolio is used to document student learning on specific curriculum

outcomes and is used to demonstrate the extent of mastery in any curricular area.

USES OF PORTFOLIOS

1. It provides both formative and summative opportunities for monitoring progress

toward reaching identified outcomes.
2. It communicates concrete information about what is expected of students in
terms of the content and quality of performance in specific curriculum areas.
3. It allows students to document aspects of their learning that do not show up well
in traditional assessments.
4. It is useful to showcase periodic or end of the year accomplishments of students.
5. It is used to facilitate communication between teachers and parents regarding
the child's achievement and progress.
6. Administrators may use this for national competency testing to grant high-school
credit and to evaluate educational programs.
7. It combines the purposes of instructional enhancement and progress
documentation. A teacher is able to review the students’ work periodically and
makes notes to revise his instruction for the next year.

PURPOSES OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PORTFOLIO

Mueller (2010) suggested different purposes of each type of portfolios and some
samples of students' product needed to be accomplished.

Purposes of Working Portfolio

PURPOSES SAMPLES
1. To show growth or  previous and recent pieces of work,
change overtime. tests/scores in any subject area
2. To identify  rough drafts and final drafts of essay
strengths/weaknesses writings in English and Filipino subjects
of the learners.  reflections on students' growth about a
3. To development of certain topic
one or more  samples of work reflecting specifically
products or identified strengths and weaknesses
performances.  goal-setting sheets
4. To help develop  reflections on progress toward goal/s
process skills.
  drafts of the specific product or
performance to be tracked
 samples which reflect growth of process
skills
 self-reflection sheets accompanying
samples of work
 reflection sheets from teacher or peer

Purposes of Showcase Portfolio

PURPOSES SAMPLES
1. To showcase end-of-  samples of best work
year/semester.  samples of previous and recent work to
accomplishments document progress
2. To showcase student  final tests or scores
perceptions of  discussion of growth over semester/ year
favorite, best, or  awards or other recognitions
most important work.  teacher or peer comments
3. To represent a  samples of student's favorite, best, or most
sample of current important work
work.  drafts of the work to the path taken before
4. To prepare a sample its final form
of best work for  commentary on strengths/weaknesses of
employment or work
college admission.  match of work with standards
accomplished
 self-reflection on current aptitudes and the
teacher's reflection to these
 identification of future goals
 cover letter
 sample of work reflection on process of
creating sample of work
 description of knowledge/skills work
indicates the best accomplishments

Purposes of Progress Portfolio

PURPOSES SAMPLES
1. To document  samples of representative work in each
achievement for subject/unit/topic to be graded
grading.  samples of work documenting level of
2. To place students achievement on course/grade-level
appropriately. goals/ standards/objectives (with self-
3. To document reflection)
progress toward  rubrics/criteria used for evaluation of work
standard. (when applied)
 teacher's reflection on attainment of
goals/ standards
 identification of strengths/weaknesses
  representative samples of recent work
 representative samples of previous work to
indicate rate of progress
 classroom tests/scores
 external tests/evaluations match of work
with standards accomplished
 self-reflection, teachers, parents, and
other professionals’ reflection on current
student aptitudes
 list of applicable goals and standards
 representative samples of work aligned
with respective goals/standards
 self-reflection on how well samples
indicate attainment of course/grade-level
goals/ standards/objectives
 analysis or evidence of progress made
toward standards over course of
semester/year

ADVANTAGES OF PORTFOLIO (Venn, 2000)

1. It is consistent with the theories of instruction and philosophies of schools
promoting students' involvement in learning.
2. It is an excellent way to document student's development and growth over time.
3. It provides students the opportunity to have extensive input from the learning.
4. It fosters a sense of ownership of the work and the skills in critical self-reflection and
decision-making.
5. Portfolio contents may be used to illustrate the processes and procedures
students follow.
6. It combines paper-and-pencil tests with performance and product assessments.
7. It promotes student self-evaluation, reflection, and critical thinking.
8. It measures performance-based assessment from genuine samples of student.
9. It provides opportunities for students and teachers to discuss learning goals and
the steps to achieve those goals in structured and unstructured conferences.
10. It enables measurement of multiple dimensions of student progress by including
different types of data and materials.

DISADVANTAGES OF PORTFOLIO (Venn, 2000)

1. Logistics involved in designing and maintaining a portfolio system may be
overwhelming with little or no support.
2. All stakeholders need training to design, implement, manage, and assess
portfolio.
3. Portfolio is a new assessment strategy to most teachers, relative to previous
approaches, with many unresolved issues.
4. Gathering all the necessary data and work samples can make the portfolio bulky
and difficult to manage.
5. Requiring extra time to plan an assessment system and conduct the assessment.
6. Scoring portfolio involves the extensive use of subjective evaluation procedures,
such as rating scales and professional judgment; these limit reliabilities.
 7. Developing a systematic and deliberate management system is difficult, but this
step is necessary in order to make a portfolio more than a random collection of
student work.
8. Scheduling individual portfolio conferences is difficult and the length of each
conference may interfere with other instructional activities.

DEVELOPING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

Eight Basic Steps (Charlotte Danielson, Leslye Abrutyn)
1. Determine the curricular objectives to be addressed through the portfolio.
2. Determine the decisions that will be made based on the portfolio assessments.
3. Design assessment tasks for the curricular objectives. Ensure that the task
matches instructional intentions and adequately represents the content and
skills students are expected to attain. These considerations will ensure the
validity of the assessment tasks.
4. Define the criteria for each assessment task and establish performance
Standards for each criterion.
5. Determine who will evaluate the portfolio entries.
6. Train teachers or other evaluators to score the assessments. This will ensure the
reliability of the assessments.
7. Teach the curriculum, administer assessments, and collect them in portfolios or
score assessments.
8. As determined in Step 2, make decisions based on the assessments in the
portfolios.

GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING PORTFOLIO

1. Include enough documents (items) on which to base judgment.
2. Structure the contents to provide scorable information.
3. Develop judging criteria and a scoring scheme for raters to use in assessing the
portfolio.
4. Use observation instruments such as checklists and rating scales when possible to
facilitate scoring.
5. Use trained evaluators or assessors.

CONTENTS OF PORTFOLIO
1. Table of contents
2. Single best piece, which is selected by the students and can come from any class
and need riot address an academic subject.
3. Letter explaining the composition and selection of the best piece.
4. Poem, short story, or personal narration
5. Personal response to a book, event, current issue, mathematical problem, or
scientific phenomenon
6. Prose piece from any subject area other than English or Language Arts