The Positives and Negatives of Student Portfolio Assessments

Running head: STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT The Positives and Negatives of Student Portfolio Assessments Maarten J. Brown Thongsook College 1 STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 2 Abstract A students’ portfolio is his or hers collection of work accumulated over a period of time. These portfolios provide learners’ with the opportunity to show case their best work, it also provides the teacher to assess the learner individually based on their best work. Although, portfolios have merit for assessing learners’ capabilities there are some drawbacks. This paper will cover varies different types of student portfolios, and the positives and negatives of learner portfolios. Student portfolios assessment enables learners' the opportunity to reflect back on their overall performance, that highlights their strengths and weaknesses during the learning process. Keywords: self-reflection, cumulative, shortcomings, highlights STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 3 The Positives and Negatives of Student Portfolio Assessments Introduction Student Portfolio (SP) can be described as the records of a learner’s process during a course that exposes a learners’ strengths and weaknesses (Pierce, & O'Malley, 1992). And, as a scientific collection of the learner’s work, the evidence of a SP should include reflection, selfevaluation, and guidelines for accessing the learner’s work, which then can be presented to parents, caretakers, peers, and so on. SP requires that the learner and teacher work closely together to identify any weaknesses of the learner’s work. While SP tracks the learner’s progress over the course or semester, it is important that there are revisions, and all information be documented (Brown, & Hudson 1998). In regards with the content of SP, they should be multi-sourced and include a wide spread of written and presentation activities that elicits a learners’ hard work, development, accomplishments, and concerns. The SP may also contain of self-assessment lists, such as K-WL charts, and subjective information. Lastly, the SP should include, samples of the exams and exercises that are periodically used by instructors as part of assessing the fulfillment and common performance of the learner (Pierce, & O’Malley, 1992). The Background of Portfolio According to Brown (1998) the term SP was copied from the field of fine arts, where portfolios are used to showcase an artist’s finest work (Brown, 1998). Portfolios dates back hundreds of years. Portfolio first were introduced as a way of developing and accessing the etiquette of teachers, as well as taking on the role as an assessment tool in multiple educational environments. There have many studies conducted on the benefits of portfolios as the primary assessment tool for foreign language learning. Through experience and research, researcher STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 4 found that a well-constructed SP assessment, could benefit English as a Second Language (ESL) learners more than the succeeding standardized test (Arter, & Spandel, 1992). Diverse Forms of Student Portfolios According to Jehue, and Tessier (2000) there are two key types of portfolios; Process portfolio: which records all stages of learning and provide an advanced record of the learner development, and Product portfolio: which describes the proficiency of a learning task or a set of learning goals that contains the best work of a learner (Jehue, & Tessier, 2000). However, there are many experts and educators that suggest and describe different types of SPs. SPs can be easily adaptable to cater to a learner’s needs and ability, these SPs are often divided into four types (Mandell, & Michelson, 1990).  Developmental Portfolios: which demonstrates the advance and development of a learner over a period of time, developmental portfolios are considered a work in progress that include self-assessment and reflection feedback rudiments.  Assessment Portfolios: measures a learner’s capability and ability for a distinct area. The main focus of assessments portfolios is to appraise leaner capability as defined by a platform of principles and results.  Showcase Portfolios: showcases outstanding work and skills. This is created towards the end of a course or semester to promote the quality of the learner’s work. Learners’ often present this portfolio to prospective companies to gain employment.  Working Portfolios: The main focus is to serve as a holding tank for learners’ work, which is simply a repository for all their work, with no purpose to the collection and is directed by the learning objectives. There are many uses or forms of portfolio assessment, regardless of their primary focus STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 5 or audience, they can change the learning experience for ESL learners’. The use of portfolios for learners who are learning in a particular area are greatly boosted through self-reflection and document learning. Self-reflection is a vital step in the portfolio development and should be taught implicitly through the learning experience (Danielson, & Abrutyn, 1997). The Positives of Student Portfolios Having SP in the classroom encourages conversation amongst teachers and learners. While some reluctant learners fail to initiate conversations within the classroom, they do benefit greatly from one on one collaboration with the teacher, while other learners may enjoy boasting about their achievements. Another positive is that every learner has an individual talent, some student may excel within one area, whilst others excel in a different area. By using a SP for each learner will enable them to showcase their strongest ability in an area. It allows the teacher to differentiate a learner’s assessment based on the learner’s strengths and weaknesses, and at the same time evaluate the entire class. Another positive on SP is progressive assessment, educators are often confronted by parents and teachers to explain a particular learners’ progress and growth during a course. A well planned SP will include a learner’s earlier work as well as a summary of their strengths and weaknesses. SP includes a cumulative way on how a learner has grown during a course or semester. Parents or caretakers will have a better understanding of their child’s/children’s progress, and also the quality of the feedback and support from their teachers (De Fina, 1992). The Negatives of Student Portfolios The downside of SP is its low reliability of scoring. To overcome this downside it is important to use structured rubrics in the tests of the learners' assignments. Furthermore, a good SP comes with a considerable effort and commitment from all individuals involved. Regards to STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 6 grading a SP, this can be challenging since every learner is going to be different. A solid rubric can help a teacher evaluate the content of a SP. However, there are plenty of room for subjectivity when comparing one SP to another, thus making it difficult to assign grades equally. Another negative is time, while using SP as an assessment tool, this can be a long time commitment for the teacher as well as the learner, in regards to; construction of individual portfolios, learners’ having enough time to work on their assignments, grading of each SP, and the time restriction of fitting these assignments into the class schedule (Koretz, Stecher, Klein, & McCaffrey, 1994). STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 7 Conclusion It's far necessary to evaluate the learners’ performances as a character or in a collection at some stage in the mastering manner, instead of evaluation with conventional strategies, such as: multiple-choice, or true and false techniques. SPs are opportunity assessment techniques to look at learners' tendencies and verify their performances for the duration of studying technique. There may also be doubt as these evaluations do come with shortcomings. Brown and Hudson (1998) factor out that SPs are particularly hard to produce and comparatively time-ingesting to administer, and that reliability of SP can be somewhat subjective within the scoring process. Unlike traditional methods for assessing a learner, SP assessment techniques can document "a tale for every scholar, and what is the ultimate aim of assessment but to present us the knowledge with the intention to mirror upon, discuss, and help a student's journey via the getting to know manner" (Huerta-Macias 1995). SP assessment enables learners' the opportunity to reflect back on their overall performance, that highlights their strengths and weaknesses during the learning process. They are an essential method for evaluation a learners' true potential. Moreover, the theoretical and relevant researches display that SP can be used both as mastering and assessment equipment (Barton, & Collins, 1997). The positives outweigh the negatives, and SP should be considered as an assessment technique for ESL learners. STUDENT PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT 8 References Arter, J. A. & Spandel, V. (1992). Using portfolios of student work in instruction and assessment. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. Barton, C. & Collins, A. (1997). Portfolio Assessment: A Handbook for Educators. New York: Dale Seymour Publications Brown, J. D., (1998). New ways of classroom assessment. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Brown, J. D. & Hudson, T. (1998). The alternatives in language assessment. TESOL Quarterly. Danielson, C. & Abrutyn, L. (1997). An introduction to using portfolios in the classroom. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. De Fina, A. (1992). Portfolio Assessment: Getting Started. New York: Scholastic Professional Books. Huerta-Macias, A. 1995. Alternative assessment: Responses to commonly asked questions. TESOL Journal. Jehue, D. & Tessier, N. (2000). Portfolio Assessment. Strategies, 14(1), 9-12. doi:10.1080/08924562.2000.10591463 Koretz, D., Stecher, B., Klein, S. & McCaffrey, D. (1994). The Vermont Portfolio Assessment Program: Findings and Implications. Education Measurement: Issues and Practice. Pierce, L. V. & O'Malley, J. M. (1992). Performance and portfolio assessment for language minority students. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.