R eferences

Performance criteria are needed to assess the individual pieces that make up a portfolio. W ithout such criteria, assessment cannot be consistent w ithin and across portfolios.The nature and process of identifying performance criteria for portfolios are the same as that for checklists, rating scales, and rubrics.

If the students' portfolios are required for all teachers in a grade or if portfolios are to be passed on to the student's next teacher, it is advisable for all teachers who w ill use inform ation provided by the portfolio to cooperate in fo rm ulating performance criteria.

It can also be valuable to allow the students to help id e n tify performance criteria used in assessing the contents of a p o rtfo lio because this can give the students a sense of ow nership over th e ir performance and help them th in k th ro ugh the nature of the p o rtfo lio pieces they w ill produce. B eginning a lesson w ith a discussion of w hat makes a good book report, oral reading, science lab, or sonnet is a useful way to get the students th in k about the characteristics o f the process or product they w ill have to develop.

Setting

In addition to a clear purpose and well-developed performance criteria, portfolio assessments must take into account the setting in which the students' performance w ill be gathered. W hile many portfolio pieces can be gathered by the teacher in the classroom, other pieces cannot. When portfolios include oral speaking, science experiments, artistic productions, and psychomotor activities, special equ ipm ent or arrangements may be needed to properly collect the desired student performance. Many teachers underestimate the tim e it takes to collect the processes and products that make up portfolios and the management and record keeping needed to maintain them.

An im portant dimension of using portfolios is the logistics of collecting and m aintaining the students' portfolios. Portfolios require space. They have to be stored in a safe but accessible place. A system has to be established for the students to add or subtract pieces of their portfolios. M aintaining portfolios requires tim e and organization. Materials such as envelopes, crates, tape recorders, and the like w ill be needed for assembling and storing the students' portfolios.

Scoring

Scoring portfolios can be a tim e-consum ing task. Not only does each in dividual portfolio piece have to be assessed, but the summarized pieces must also be assessed to provide an overall portfolio performance.

Consider the difference in m anaging and scoring portfolios that contain varied processes or products compared w ith portfolios that contain examples of a single process or product. The m u ltifocused p o rtfo lio provides a wide range of student performance, b ut at a substantial logistical and scoring cost to the teacher. The single-focus p o rtfo lio does not provide the breadth of varied student performances o f the m ulti-focused p o rtfo lio b ut can be managed and scored considerably more quickly.

When the purpose of a portfolio is to provide descriptive in form ation about student performance (e.g., to pass inform ation on to the next school year's teacher), no scoring or summarization is needed. The contents themselves provide the desired inform ation. However, when the purpose of a portfolio is to diagnose, track im provem ent, assess the success of instruction, encourage the students to reflect on their work, or grade the students, some form of summarization or scoring of the portfolio pieces is required.

The purpose of assessing an entire portfolio, as opposed to the individual pieces, is usually su m m a tive -to assign a grade. Such holistic portfolio assessment requires the development of a set of summarizing criteria.

Individual portfolio pieces are typically scored using checklists, rating scales, and rubrics. It is not always the teacher who assesses the pieces. It is desirable and instructive to allow the students to self- assess some of th e ir portfolio pieces in order to give them practice in critiq u in g th e ir own work w ith respect to the performance criteria. This approach encourages student reflection and learning. Below is an example of performance criteria in assessing in d ivid u a l portfolio using checklist, rating scale, and rubric.

Assessing performance, product, and portfolio has both advantages and disadvantages. The teacher needs to th in k of the best opportunities when to do such activities in class. The list below presents the advantages and disadvantages of assessing performance, product, and portfolio according to Russell and Airasian (2012).

Advantages

• Conduct student self-assessment of products and performances.

• Conduct peer review of products and performances.

• Integrate assessment and instruction.

• Give the students ownership over their learning and productions.

• Report performance to the parents in clear, descriptive terms.

• Provide concrete examples for parent conferences.

Disadvantages

Most disadvantages associated with performance, product, and especially portfolio assessments involve the tim e they require:

• to prepare materials, performance criteria, and scoring formats;

• To manage, organize, and keep records;

• for teachers and the students to become comfortable with the use of performance assessments and the change in teaching and learning roles they involve; and

• to score and provide feedback to the students.

• Know the purpose of the assessment from the beginning.

• Teach and give the students practice in the performance criteria.

• State the performance criteria in term s of observable behaviors and avoid using adverbs such as appropriately, correctly, or w ell because th e ir in terpretation may sh ift from student to student. Use overt, well-described behaviors th a t can be seen by an observer and, therefore, are less subject to in te rp re ta tio n . Inform the students of these criteria and focus instruction on them .

• Select performance criteria that are at an appropriate level of difficulty for the students. For example, the criteria used to ju d g e the oral speaking performance of third-year debate students should be more detailed than those used to ju d g e first-year debate students.

• L im it performance criteria to a manageable number. A large n u m b e r o f criteria makes observation d iffic u lt and causes errors that reduce the v a lid ity o f the assessment in form ation.

• Maintain a written record of the students' performance. Checklists, rating scales, and rubrics are the easiest methods for recording the students' performance on im portant criteria, although more descriptive narratives are often desirable and informative. Voice or video recorders may be used to provide a record of performance, so long as th e ir use does not upset or distract the students. If a form al instrum ent cannot be used to record ju dgm ents of the students' performance, then inform al notes of strong and weak points should be taken.

• Be sure the performance assessment is fair to all the students.

A B S T R A C T

Activity C .1 .

Answer the fo llow ing guide questions.

1. What are the advantages of allow ing the students to assess th e ir own portfolio?

2. Can the students go to th e ir portfolio at any tim e or w ill the teacher set aside a special tim e when all the students can m odify th e ir portfolios?

4. How does a student's portfolio help the parents in g u idin g the student?

D. A P P L Y

Activity D. 1

1. Design a portfolio you want your students to prepare in one of your classes. Give the purpose, contents, guidelines for preparation, and criteria or rubric for assessing the students' portfolio.

2. Ask the students to prepare an e-portfolio where they can apply th e ir knowledge and skills from different subjects (e.g., physics, mathematics, history, in form ation technology, communication). Make a rubric that w ill help you score th e ir portfolio.

III. Lesson Synthesis

What is the most im portant consideration when designing a portfolio assessment?

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