Why do portfolios need to measure standards of achievement?
One of the benefits of using portfolio assessment is that portfolios provide a richer picture of a student's abilities and show their growth over time. Portfolios are excellent tools for measuring growth. Students can look back at their first entries and compare them to what they have achieved. It is personally rewarding for students to see the difference in their work.
However, teachers cannot only grade students based on their effort and growth. Standards are increasingly important in the American Education system. Students are expected to be able to demonstrate their level of achievement in order to graduate from high school. If teachers are using portfolios they need to make sure that they are measuring student’s achievement as well as their growth.
How can portfolios measure students achievement as well as their growth?
One way that teachers can use portfolios to help students meet standards is by giving explicit criteria for successful portfolios. Teachers could even share the state or district standards with students and discuss what meeting those standards would look like in their portfolio work.
For example, a Washington State EALR for writing states that “Students will be able to confer with others and incorporate their suggestions to improve writing.”Identifying Code: Writing 3.3a. A teacher could require students to demonstrate their achievement of this standard by including a rough draft with peer feedback for each major writing assignment.
See an example of a porftolio assessment.