As a teacher, I know the promise of authentic forms of assessment. Portfolios and exhibitions show what students can actually do—something exams and standardized tests have never done.
Still, I am worried. Classroom portfolios are effective in a way that institutionalized portfolios probably never can be. In fact, mandating portfolios on a systemwide or statewide basis may destroy one of their greatest assets: allowing students to reflect on their learning and feel a sense of hope and control. In the words of an English-as-a-Second-Language 7th grader:On writing, I wasn't sure I had improved or not. I still have spelling error and make mistake on verb tense. However, I feel easier to describe my thought than before. Another 7th grader wrote:I still read very slowly but now read faster after I get into a book. My reading logs have improved greatly since the beginning of the year in both quality and content. After I write in them it gives me new things to look for in the book that support that particular thought.
This kind of reflectiveness, which depends upon collaboration between student and teacher, would be difficult to achieve with institutionalized portfolios. Once standards are defined by an outside authority, collaboration is minimized and the importance of the student's own goals and assessment of learning diminishes.
Portfolios at the Classroom Level
Last year my 7th grade class started their year-end portfolio project by spending three days in planning and discussion. On the first day, we brainstormed a list of all the kinds of portfolios my students could think of and then discussed how to choose what to include in them.
After agreeing that people usually try to show off their best work, I introduced the idea that their portfolios might present a broader picture—how students have changed or improved, what their particular interests are, and areas where they still have difficulties. This comment led my students to suggest including the following items: an early and a later piece of writing, a rewrite of something, examples of what they like and don't like, a list of books they like and don't; and reading logs that show how their thinking about books has changed.
I then asked my students to think about my minimum requirements for a portfolio: a cover letter explaining their choices and describing themselves as learners; a table of contents; at least two samples related to their writing; two related to their reading; and another piece of their own choosing. For the most part, they simply accepted my proposal, but our discussion raised important issues: Should students receive more credit if they put in more samples? Why not just organize and categorize all of their work? What if they can't find any improvement?
- how well the student compares pieces and explains why they were included;
- the actual content (Is there enough? Is there too much?);
- neatness and organization;
- effort expended; and
- the clarity and completeness of the cover letter.
Most of my students felt that neatness and organization should count, but “not very much.” I agreed that other criteria would be more important. When Sara suggested the quality of the actual content, Amos objected:We could all just turn in the papers that got the best grades. But we already got those grades, so what would be the point of making a portfolio?
Finally, I prepared my students for portfolio work by giving them a series of free-writing prompts to help them with their cover letters: As a reader and a writer, how have you grown or changed? What do you like best and least? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Afterward, I gave them several class periods to review their work, select pieces to include, and write the cover letter.
With this particular class, I decided that the portfolio grades would be based on the students' commitment to the work and on their ability to explain their own learning. I would not assess writing quality except in the case of the cover letter. The portfolio counted as a major test and was averaged in with other grades.
Portfolios on a Larger Scale
The double purpose of empowering students and measuring their achievement becomes more difficult when portfolios are used on a broader scale. I recently became aware of such a situation.
Jean had attended a school that had used portfolios and exhibitions in place of standardized tests and exams. Because the school system wants to create a rigorous system of evaluation, one not seen as “soft” or undemanding, the portfolio assessment committee gave nearly all of the students the lowest of the three possible rankings.
Jean's main interest is in writing, she was proud of her portfolio, and her teacher told her it was wonderful. When she learned of her low rank, she felt disappointed and undermined. Jean was unaware of the standards by which she had been judged; what she thought she was doing and what the assessment committee thought she was doing were at odds—and the committee had had the final say. There is little difference between that experience and getting a C or a B when an A was expected.
I don't know whether Jean's experience is typical of what happened to other students at her school, but it points up the problem I am worried about. Unless there is better communication between the student and the assessment committee, students will feel less motivated to define their own learning. High-achieving students may well abandon their own interests in order to stretch for a higher ranking; and less-confident students may well put more energy into figuring out how to “pass” than into defining their own needs and interests. Such students rely much more on the judgment of others than on their own sense of what they can and can't do.
An example of how portfolios can counteract that problem involves another of my students, who regarded herself as a terrible writer and speller. Although Debbie was a hard worker who studied for tests and rewrote papers, she always awaited the results as if she had been playing roulette. From her point of view, the outcome was up to me.
Caught in a lockstep pace of learning and testing, students like Debbie feel little control; even those who study hard often do so without much hope and with unnecessarily low expectations of themselves. Once they are encouraged to establish their own goals and meet them, however, they do much better. During the third term, Debbie set these goals for herself:I'm going to keep writing stories about my grandfather and writing thoughts I have for class discussion the way I have been, but this term I'm going to pay more attention to my spelling. I've started a list of words I always get wrong. I'm going to do at least one paper with no errors without the help of spell-check.This kind of goal-setting and self-awareness occurs only when the student's self-assessment carries real weight.
No Easy Solutions
If there is a way to resolve the dichotomy between assessing achievement and personal goal-setting, it is not an easy one. On the one hand, measurement by external standards often results in less effective education. On the other hand, everyone who works hard and learns a lot does not deserve a top ranking. Students need to know how they measure up, not just in terms of learning, but also in terms of what will be expected of them.
Because authentic assessment is a fairer, more informative way to measure success than standardized tests and exams have been, we need to address ways to adopt it without losing the potential for student empowerment. Ideally, institutionalized portfolios might operate the way they do in the classroom. As a part of portfolio planning (and probably even before that), students would be made aware of all the ways in which their work would be judged. At the same time, they would be encouraged to plan their work around what they care most about and feel would help them learn best. Together with an adviser, students would be encouraged to plan criteria for their own success, regardless of what rank that would get.
Perhaps, too, students might receive one score based on performance level and another based on how well they achieved their own goals and understood their own accomplishments in light of external expectations.
Of course, there are dangers. Competition might prevent teachers and students from planning realistically, and the achievement score might be seen as more important. Personal goal-setting and reflection might thus become second-class features of portfolios. We must not let this happen. We must keep the pressure to meet external standards from limiting our students' ability to take charge of their own education.
