The Importance of Student Portfolios

As I read chapter 3 “Assessing Students’ Literacy Development”, I was particularly interested in the section devoted to “Portfolio Assessment” (2010, p. 91). Tompkins defines student portfolios as “systematic and meaningful collections of artifacts documenting students’ literacy development over a period of time” (2010, p. 91). The portfolios show students’ daily activities, progress, and opportunities to improve instruction. Students decide what goes into their portfolios, and therefore establish criteria for their work. “Students learn to reflect on and assess their own reading and writing activities and their development as readers and writers” (2010, p. 93). Therefore, portfolios may motivate students to create “portfolio worthy” work.

Tompkins discusses three types of portfolios (working, displace, and assessment) and the manners in which they contribute to students’ writing and reading abilities. The working portfolio is an organizational tool used to compile all of a student’s recent work (drafts, revisions, and final drafts), and shows a student’s recent progression. Teachers can increase their class’ motivation by instructing their students to create display portfolios on poster board to showcase each student’s best work. Teachers can use assessment portfolios to present work that shows students have met learning goals and state requirements. All three types of portfolios “help students, teachers, and parents see patterns of growth from one literacy milestone to another in ways that are not possible with other types of assessment” (2010, p. 91).

Our text claims portfolios can be used for students in grades K-12 and above. However, I can foresee some of my future first grader’s parents wanting their students to bring their work home on a daily or weekly basis. Parents may not want to wait until students complete their portfolios to see their student’s progress. One solution is to create electronic portfolios that can be emailed to parents as often as they wish. In an article entitled “Electronic Portfolios in the K-12 Classroom”, Mary Daniels Brown claims "A paper portfolio is static” and is usually the only copy of the student’s work. Brown states, “When the portfolio is in digital format, students can easily duplicate and transport it” (2002). She recommends using hyperlinks to connect parts of the portfolio so students, parents, and teachers can easily “flip” from one area of the portfolio to the next. Teachers of younger students can scan pictures and writing samples and add recordings of each student while he or she reads assigned works. Teachers and students can also include captions at the bottom of works to better describe the assignment to the portfolio’s audience. However, one of the biggest advantages of an electronic portfolio is the ability to add links to website to offer addition resources on a particular topic, or attach a paragraph from the state curriculum that explains why the student is engaging in a certain activity and the grading criteria.

Resources

Daniels Brown, Mary (2002). Electronic Portfolios in the K-12 Classroom. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech111.shtml

Tompkins, Gail E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach

Additional Resources

Cohen, Lynn (2006). The Power of Portfolios.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article

http://www.uvm.edu/~jmorris/portresources.html