portfolios . by maryam almutairy
TRANSCRIPT
BEYOND TESTS: Alternatives in Assessment
Presented by: Maryam Almutairy
Instructor: Dr. Aisha Khojah
Objectives :
• What is a portfolio
• The process of a portfolio
• Advantages and challenges
• Issues related to portfolios assessment
The difference between testing and assessing
Assessmentconnotes a much
broader concept in that most of the time when teachers are teaching, they are also assessing.
Testsare formal procedures
usually administered within strict time limitations, to sample the performance of a test-taker in a specified domain
the reason behind the emerging of alternatives in assessment :
One of the disturbing things about tests isthe extent to which many people accept theresults uncritically, while others believe thatall testing is invidious. But tests are simplymeasurement tools: It is the use to which weput their results that can be appropiate orinappropiate’.
Bailey (1998)
A new proposal that emerged in the 1990’s .The
proposal was to assemble additional measurement
of students.
Portfolios
Journals
Observations
self-assessments
peer-assessments
What should alternative assessments
do?
• Ask Ss to perform, create, produce or do something
• Tap higher level thinking skills
• Use tasks that are meaningful
• People, not machines, do the scoring
• Require new instructional and assessment roles for
teachers
Portfolios : a new wave in assessment
What is a Portfolio
“A portfolio is more than just a container full of stuff. It’s a
systematic and organized collection of evidence used by
the teacher and student to monitor growth of the student’s
knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a specific subject area
And so it is what’s in the container, rather than the container
itself, that becomes a student’s portfolio”(Vavrus,1996)
What is a Portfolio
“a portofolio is a purposeful collection of
students work that demonstrates ... Their
efforts, progress, and achievements in given
areas” (Genesee ,Upshur, 1996)
Purposeful
Without purpose, a portfolio is just a folder of student work.
before you can design the portfolio assignment and before
your students can begin constructing their portfolios you
and your students need to be clear about the story the
portfolio will be telling. Portfolios take work to create,
manage and assess. They can easily feel like busywork and
a burden to you and your students if they just become
folders filled with student papers. The purpose of the
portfolio plays a major role in determining content validity .
Content of Portfolios
“A portfolio typically includes evidence drawn from
practice”( Baume,Yorke,2010).
essays
Tests and test
scores projects
Self and peer
assessment
Journals and
reflections
Poetry and
prose
Attributes of portfolios
Gottlieb (1995) suggested a developmental scheme for
considering the nature and purpose of portfolios, using
the acronym CRADLE to designate six possible
attributes of a portfolio:
• Collecting
• Reflecting
• Assessing
• Documenting
• Linking
• Evaluating
An expression of students’ lives and attitudes
Evaluating quality and development over time
Thinking about experience and activities
Demonstrating students’ achievement
Connecting students and teachers with parent, community and peers.
Generating responsible outcome
Types of Portfolios
Process portfolios
• Used to illustrate steps in a
process, and continual
growth
• Used to share experiences
Product portfolios
• Used to document or
provide evidence of
completion
• Used to demonstrate
competence or mastery
Why Bother!
Portfolios are messy
proponents of portfolios suggest two
reasons for their use:
• The first reason reflects dissatisfaction with the traditional
grading systems. test scores tell us almost nothing about
what a student has learned or is able to do.
• Second, it is argued that a well-designed portfolio system,
which requires students to participate in the selection
process and to think about their work, can accomplish
several important purposes : it can motivate students; it can
provide explicit examples to parents, teachers, and others
of what students know and are able to do; it allows students
to chart their growth over time and to self-assess their
progress; and, it encourages students to engage in self-
reflection.
The Portfolio Assessment Process
1- State objectives clearly
2- Give guidelines on what goes in
ideas, sketches, best work
Student participation in the selection process is critical. Hamp,
Lyones and Condon(2000) “suggested advantages for student
control of portfolio contents, but teacher guidance will keep
students on target with curricular objectives “ ( Brown,2004,p.257).
The Portfolio Assessment Process
3- Communicate assessment criteria to students
Assessment of portfolios may include a combination
of self-assessment, teacher assessment of individual
items, and peer – assessment.
“ When students are made part of the evaluation they
receive the power that goes with that specialized
knowledge- power to recognize strong performance,
power to identify problems in weak performance, and
power to use criteria to change and improve
performance” (Judith, Arter,Spandel,p.37)
4-Designate time :
For selecting student work and time for review
and conference
5- Passing Portfolios on. The final decision item
has to do with what is done with portfolios at the
end of a semester or school year.
Keeping them over
a long period of time.
turned over to students.
The Portfolio Assessment Process
Advantages of portfolios
Enhance critical thinking and enlarge the view of
what’s learned
Fosters student-teacher interaction
Assesses what students can do
and not just what they know
Engages students actively
Integrate learning and assessment
Challenges
• Reliability: It can be quite difficult to establish scoring
systems that are reliable over raters or time.
• Time: The use of portfolios for assessment is time
consuming in terms of hours needed to produce the
product and time to develop a workable scoring system.
• Depth, not breadth: Portfolio assessment offers the
opportunity for depth but not breadth with regard to
academic material covered.
• Fairness: It may be difficult for the evaluator to control
outside influences on the product such as parental
assistance and access to resources like computers.
ISSUES RELATED TO PORTFOLIO
ASSESSMENT
Vavrus 1990 , said that “If portfolios are to be evaluated, the
evaluation standards should be established before the
portfolio system is established” (p. 53).
“Portfolio assessment in second language is continuous and
formative because it provides an elaborated system of scoring
that reflects the diversity and variation of language skills in
different situations and purposes. ”( Davis,2005)
What to Grade ?
• Nothing :some teachers choose not to grade the
portfolio because they have already assigned
grades to the contents selected for inclusion:
• Completion: Some portfolios are graded simply
on whether or not the portfolio was completed.
• Everything: Other teachers evaluate the entire
package: the selected samples of student work as
well as the reflection, organization and
presentation of the portfolio.
•How to Grade/Evaluate?
• Develop an appropriate scoring system. this is
best done through the use of a rubric.
Validity
“ Validity is the extent to which the assessment measures what it
purports to measure. In the context of portfolio assessment,
validity is the extent to which the portfolio assesses the
curriculum learning outcomes”(Davis,2005,p.251).
Validity can be enhanced , If students understand the goal of
their portfolios, such as the content and evaluation criteria,
before using the portfolio assessment in the classroom.
Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency and accuracy of the assessment
tool to measure students' performance. Portfolios are only effective if
you establish a fair and consistent way of scoring, recording, and
grading them. The key to developing a reliable portfolio is to
establish clear and detailed criteria
• Brown, D. (2004) Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York:
Pearson Longman.
• Damiani, B. PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN THE CLASSROOM , Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
• Arter, J. A., & Spandel, V. (1992). Using portfolios of student work in instruction and
assessment. Educational measurement: Issues and practice, 11(1), 36-44.
• Baume, David, and Mantz Yorke. "The reliability of assessment by portfolio on a course to
develop and accredit teachers in higher education." Studies in Higher Education 27.1
(2002): 7-25.
• Davis, M. H., & Ponnamperuma, G. G. (2005). Portfolio assessment. Journal of Veterinary
Medical Education, 32(3), 279-284.
• Wisconsin Education Association Council, Performance Assessment, Education Issues
Series, May 1996. Used with permission.
THANK YOU !