Student Portfolios

Our 1st-grade students arrive in our classroom each year with their "learning portfolios."  These portfolios represent work samples and artifacts of students' growth collected at various times during the year.  Starting in their Kindergarten year, students and teachers meet three times yearly to select writing samples and math exemplars showing their progress and growth.  These pieces are shared at parent conferences and then forwarded to the next grade level.

Students always delight in reviewing their work from their previous year in Kindergarten at their first selection conference.  They chuckle and "aww" at their first writing and math reasoning attempts.  We then review current work, decide which pieces show areas they have grown, and work on developing future goals.  Kids leave with a student-friendly goal sheet highlighting their strengths, areas to work on, and current goals.  These sheets are then stapled into their writing and math journals for reference.

At the school year's conclusion, students again look forward to reviewing their learning portfolios and take great care in selecting the final pieces for their new 2nd-grade teachers.  As a teacher, this time also allows me to reflect upon their progress and growth.  I make notes about my class's progress as a whole and consider what implications these might have on my future instruction.

There are many benefits to student portfolios.  It allows a more holistic representation of a child's individual characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses by including various types of student work (Sewell et al., n.d.; University of Arizona, n.d.).  Students are also actively engaged in reflection and take ownership of their work as they work towards their goals (Sewell et al., n.d.). Portfolios also serve as a communication tool between teachers, parents, and students (Sewell et al., n.d.).

But collecting and selecting artifacts for portfolios can be time-consuming(Sewell et al., n.d.; University of Arizona, n.d.).  Clear goals and criteria must be established to ensure portfolios show patterns of growth or achievement. Portfolios are also considered subjective and unreliable compared to quantitative test scores (Sewell et al., n.d.).

Despite these drawbacks, we continue to use portfolios as part of our student assessment.  Portfolios and more traditional formative and summative assessments provide us with a preponderance of evidence regarding a child's growth. 

Sewell, M., Marczak, M., & Horn, M. (n.d.). The use of portfolio assessment in evaluation. The University of Arizona. https://ag.arizona.edu/sfcs/cyfernet/cyfar/Portfo~3.htm

University of Hawaii at Manoa (n.d.). Using portfolios in program assessment. https://manoa.hawaii.edu/assessment/resources/using-portfolios-in-program-assessment/



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