Assessment Reaction

By Michelle Mehlberg

LT726

Dakota State University

Although this article dealt with portfolio assessment in Language Arts, I think it had some very valid points for all curriculum areas. First of all it defined for the reader what a portfolio actually is and the purpose of keeping a portfolio. In the educational system, a portfolio is used to house examples of students work(s). In most cases the work placed in the portfolio is of excellent quality. The key to a good portfolio is that the student constantly updates and makes changes to it. It the student does not do this; it becomes little more than a "filing cabinet".

When used for assessment purposes the student should ask themselves several questions regarding the works that he/she is about to place in the portfolio. They should evaluate the project according to what it tells about the student and his/her level of competency. They should then identify how that project compliments what is already placed in the portfolio and finally, whether or not the project demonstrates any change or growth in the student. If the student stays on this path when placing articles in their portfolio it will be easy for the instructor to use it as an assessment tool.

Portfolios are really a buzzword in the workshops that I have been attending. Everyone is saying, "use them", "use them", but nowhere have I been that anyone is offering any guidelines or criteria for development of them. I think that in order for them to be effective, instructors need to have exposure to them and how to help the students set them up. Also, they then can better identify what needs to go in them and what does not.

I use portfolios to a point in my Family and Consumer Science classes to evaluate units. I do not use them throughout the whole year. It gives the students exposure to them and I encourage them to continue to add to them as the year goes on. After they leave my room, I know it is not followed up on. There needs to be more education of instructors done of the value of portfolios in the classroom. I think it is hard for some staff members to even evaluate a student based on a product instead of a traditional evaluation method.

I think portfolios are nice, not only for the instructor to use as an assessment tool, but also for the student to have a collection of works in one spot. It will take more than just a handful of teachers buying into them as assessment tools, though. All teachers need to encourage portfolio use so that it ends up being a compilation of all curriculum areas for all the students’ high school years.