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Portfolios: Will They Endure? - alternative forms of grading
College Student Journal, March, 2000 by Marlow Ediger
Portfolio methods of appraising pupil progress are learner centered. However, the final portfolio to be evaluated is time consuming and should be assessed by more than one person to notice interrater/interscorer reliability. This also represents an item of expense, unless teachers are willing to do this voluntarily within an already busy schedule. Testing to notice pupil achievement is also costly; however, the results can be obtained quickly involving large number of pupils with the use of machine scoring and printouts of achievement. Here, numerical results are available for each pupil and they are relatively easy to interpret. Portfolio results are labeled as being subjective as compared to the label of objectivity being given to test results.
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A rather recent innovation in teaching has been to use portfolios to appraise pupil achievement. A philosophy of constructivism is involved in that the learner is actively involved in determining what needs to go into a portfolio. The contents of the portfolio are developed contextually, as products and processes from ongoing lessons and units of study. The teacher is a guide and motivates pupil learning as well as in the preparation of the portfolio. Everyday items of learning from the learner then can become a part of the portfolio. Evaluation then is ongoing and continuous. Portfolios may be compared with standardized, also called norm referenced tests, whereby the pupil's results are compared against a norm such as that of other learners locally and nationally. Results from the pupil here are presented numerically, such as percentile rankings, standard deviations, and grade equivalents. Professional test writers write the test items and are external to the local classroom, since they are not connected in any way with pupils taking the test.
State mandated tests also may be used to notice pupil achievement. Generally, statewide testing is done to notice if pupils have achieved measurably stated objectives, developed under the supervision of the state department of education. Learner results may also be stated in terms of percentile ranks, and standard deviations. Teachers are to be held accountable for having high pupil test results. Thus, report cards may be developed in comparing school districts within a state in terms of test results. Comparing each state in the union with others may also be done when standardized tests are used.
A few years ago, the Third international Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) was completed in which the United States was compared internationally in pupil achievement in the two academic disciplines mentioned in the title of this study. Making comparisons emphasizes a competitive approach to education, whereas portfolios stress a pupil making comparisons among his/her own products and processes in education, past and present. Standardized tests and state mandated tests are given at selected intervals, such as yearly, in grades 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Most states give tests less frequently. With portfolios, the evaluation process may occur each day or at diverse intervals within a school day.
Competition Versus Cooperation
Making comparisons among and between individuals, classrooms, school districts, states, and nations, represent a competitive approach in determining the quality and quantity of pupil learning. For example, the free enterprise system tends to stress that competition brings out the best within individuals. Through competition then, each person does the best possible in order to succeed in society. This doctrine emphasizes that the playing field is level, and the following do not matter:
1. socioeconomic level of the learner.
2. previous opportunities to learn, such as in the community and home setting.
3. the quality of home life and the surrounding environment.
4. racial factors and past discrimination in school and in society.
5. the quality of education received when comparing the lower socioeconomic level as compared to suburbia.
Constructivism with a portfolio emphasis realizes that pupils differ in educational opportunities acquired in school, in society, and in situations that affect the child. Thus, it is better to have the individual pupil notice progress over previous efforts and achievements. One standard, such as state mandated objectives for all to achieve, is not realistic. The playing field is anything but level when comparing one pupil with another in terms of achievement academically. Then too, there are other facets of achievement that need to be considered such as social development (Ediger, 1997, 35-38). Constructivism then stresses the following:
1. the pupil being heavily involved in self evaluation, but with teacher assistance.
2. the pupil noticing past as compared to present progress levels when the past is compared with what is now, in terms of products and processes of learning.
3. the pupil with the help of the teacher arranging a portfolio to show what has been learned for parents and other responsible people to observe and to know.
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