Portfolio Assessment: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Describes portfolio assessment use in special education, provides recommendations, and discusses future directions

Validity and reliability of portfolio assessment in pre‐service teacher education

“…Inevitably, there is always a certain assessment margin. In the case of portfolios, the so-called inter-assessor reliability is by definition problematic (Carpenter and Ray 1995;Verloop and Wubbels 2000). Therefore, the expertise of the assessors needs to be fostered by training and support.…”

The Assessment Maze: Making Decisions About Alternative Assessments for Students With Disabilities

“…Portfolios can also help teachers to make decisions about a student's achievement, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and needs (Grace, 1992) and can help teachers target specific skills for remediation. In addition, teachers can use the portfolio process to monitor and evaluate students' efforts, progress, knowledge, skills, talents, achievements, and attitudes; to evaluate students' cognitive and affective growth over time; to encourage students to reflect on their work; and to increase studentteacher interaction and collaboration in the classroom (Carpenter et al, 1995).…”

“…Portfolios can be used to motivate students to improve their performance, to document affective and cognitive growth, to promote learning through reflection and assessment, and to evaluate a student's thinking and writing process (Carpenter et al, 1995;Murphy & Smith, 1990cited in Grace, 1992. Portfolios can also help teachers to make decisions about a student's achievement, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and needs (Grace, 1992) and can help teachers target specific skills for remediation.…”

“…The specific purposes and settings for which the portfolio is developed determine its contents or elements (Carpenter, Ray, & Bloom, 1995). Portfolios may include attitude surveys, checklists, interest inventories, questionnaires, writing samples, samples of materials read throughout the year, self-assessments, teacher observations, results of standardized tests and informal measures, photographs of projects, videotapes, cassette tapes of student oral readings or presentations, drawings (Carpenter et al, 1995;Keefe, 1995;McLoughlin & Lewis, 1994;Wesson & King, 1996), or computer diskettes. Although portfolios are most commonly used in writing and language arts, they are now also being used in other areas such as science, mathematics, and the arts (Feuer & Fulton, 1993).…”

“…Portfolio assessments also tend not to sample the whole domain of the subject, course, or learning experience (Carpenter et al, 1995). Lastly, portfolios require teachers to make evaluative judgments about student performance without clearly defined criteria.…”