EDO-CS-91-09 Oct 1991
Portfolios: Assessment in Language Arts
Prepared by: Roger Farr
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication
Digest #66
Portfolios are used in various professions to gather typical or
exemplary samples of performance. Stockbrokers talk about a client's
portfolio; art students assemble a portfolio for an art class or a job
interview; people in advertising, publishing, or sales carry
portfolios to business meetings. The general purpose is to collect and
display an array of materials that has been gathered or produced
(Farr, 1990; Olson, 1991).
The portfolios, if defined as collections of work stored in folders
over a period of time, will have little value either to students or
teachers. To be of use, careful consideration needs to be given to
what goes into a portfolio, the process of selection, and how the
information is to be used (Krest, 1990; Valencia, 1990). If this is
not done, then the portfolio may become little more than a resource
file.
PORTFOLIOS SERVE MULTIPLE PURPOSES
Many approaches have been suggested for developing language arts
portfolios. The one common element in all of the approaches is that
portfolios are places to collect samples of a student's work. Whether
these samples include typical or best work, whether they include
reading and writing, and whether traditional assessments are added to
the portfolios are all issues that need to be carefully considered.
Other concerns have to do with the assessment of the materials that
are collected, the ownership of the portfolios, and whether portfolios
are used for both product and product assessment (Farr, 1990; Johns,
1990; Olson, 1991).
To serve the function of assessment, the language arts portfolio
should be a record of a student's literacy development--a kind of
window on the skills and strategies the student uses in reading and
writing. A student's portfolio should be the basis for the teacher's
constructive feedback. When portfolios are developed over an extended
time period as an integral part of classroom instruction, they become
valuable assets for planning both within the classroom and on a
school-wide basis. When information is gathered consistently, the
teacher is able to construct an organized, ongoing, and descriptive
picture of the learning that is taking place. The portfolio draws on
the everyday experiences of the students and reflects the reading and
writing that a student has done in a variety of literacy contexts
(Valencia, et al, 1990).
The best guides for selecting work to include in a language arts
portfolio are these: What does this literacy activity tell me about
this student as a reader and a writer? Will this information add to
what is already known? How does this information demonstrate change?
Portfolio collections can form the foundation for teacher-student
conferences, a vital component of portfolio assessment. A conference
is an interaction between the teacher and the student, and it is
through conferences that the students gain insights into how they
operate as readers and writers. Conferences support learners in taking
risks with, and responsibility for, their learning. Through
conferencing, students are encouraged to share what they know and
understand about the processes of reading and writing. It is also a
time for them to reflect on their participation in literacy tasks.
Portfolio assessment is an appropriate means of recognizing the
connection between reading and writing.
PORTFOLIOS ADDRESS LANGUAGE ARTS GOALS
The use of portfolios for assessment is not a new concept. However,
the idea has gained momentum as curriculum experts have called for
assessments that include a variety of work samples and have asked that
teachers confer with each student about his/her literacy development.
In the last few years, both the goals and instructional approaches to
language arts have changed. New curriculum designs advocate
instructional approaches that place an emphasis on:
- an integration of all aspects of language arts including reading,
writing, listening, and speaking;
- a focus on the processes of constructing meaning;
- the use of literature that inspires and motivates readers;
- an emphasis on problem solving and higher-order thinking skills; and
- the use of collaboration and group work as an essential component of
learning.
For example, integrated language arts instruction is now the accepted
model in many schools in the country (Cal. Dept. of Education, 1987).
Integrated language arts instruction for most of these schools means
that there are no longer separate reading and language arts
instructional periods--and often that language skills are also taught
when students are learning science and social studies.
Integration also means that reading and writing are not broken into
separate objectives to be taught, practiced, and mastered one at a
time. Rather, it means that skills are taught as they are needed as
part of a total behavior. Discussion preceding the reading of a
selection helps to bring a reader's knowledge to bear on what he/she
is about to read. At the same time the verbal exchange of ideas
fosters speaking and listening skills. Despite the discussions of the
importance of integrating all aspects of language arts instruction, it
is the teaching of reading and writing that has produced the most
obvious integration. Thus, a portfolio containing integrated reading
and writing work samples provides a valuable assessment tool.
PORTFOLIOS AS AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTS
One of the key issues in the development of portfolios concerns the
kinds of structured assessment activities that should be included in
them. Many curriculum and assessment specialists have been calling for
the development of performance or authentic assessments (Stiggins,
1987; Wiggins, 1989). Performance assessments have been developed and
used in the business world and in various professions for some time.
Performance assessment is nothing more than the development of an
activity that actually represents the task to be performed on the
job--or the total behavior that is the goal of instruction. Language
arts portfolio assessments should:
HAVE VALUE TO BOTH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS BEYOND THE
ASSESSMENT
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE TEST.
The tests should be so much like good instruction that a teacher would
want to administer the test for its instructional value even if there
was no assessment information provided. Value beyond assessment means
tests will take no instructional time since the test is good
instruction.
REQUIRE STUDENTS TO CONSTRUCT RESPONSES RATHER THAN
MERELY
RECOGNIZING CORRECT ANSWERS.
Perhaps the greatest concern with multiple-choice tests is that
students are not required to develop responses. Rather, they merely
have to select an answer choice from several that have already been
constructed for them. Educators have long recognized that it is a far
different matter to write a complete sentence with correct punctuation
than it is to answer a question that asks which of four punctuation
marks should be placed at the end of a sentence.
REQUIRE STUDENTS TO APPLY THEIR KNOWLEDGE.
Many tests provide students with a structure for the expected answers.
Performance assessment is open-ended and allows students to apply
their knowledge. Student responses to performance assessment should
reveal ability to understand a problem and apply his/her knowledge and
skills. This means, of course, that a variety of responses will be
acceptable.
POSE PROBLEMS FOR STUDENTS FOR WHICH THEY HAVE TO USE
MULTIPLE RESOURCES.
The solution to real problems necessitates the use of multiple
resources. The writing of a report, for example, is based on the use
of various source materials, reference aids, and the writer's
background knowledge. Assessments which attempt to replicate those
situations will provide information about students' abilities to use
multiple sources. Such assessments should also determine if students
are able to select pertinent information from the available resources
and put the selected information together in a way that solves the
problem posed by the assessment.
PRESENT STUDENTS WITH TASKS THAT HAVE A REALISTIC
FOCUS.
Tests should look like the tasks that students have to perform in
every-day life and should focus on developing responses to realistic
situations. Tests often ask only for right answers. Even when tests
ask for written responses, the questions posed are "teacher-type
questions" that have as their goal an assessment as to whether
students have a basic understanding of a story (e.g., main events,
compare and contrast). A question with a more realistic focus might
ask students to write a letter to a story character suggesting how
that character might deal with a problem. This presents a realistic
focus to which a student can respond, and the responses will reveal
how the student has understood the materials on which the response is
based.
Taken together, the general attributes of performance assessment and
the specific goals of portfolios represent an integrated approach for
language arts assessment. Since the contents of the portfolio are
generated by the student, may be typical or exemplary examples, and
require continuous evaluation of reading and writing, students are
actively engaged in their own growth and development as language
users.
REFERENCES
California State Department of Education. (1987) English-Language Arts
Framework. Sacramento, CA: California State Department of Education.
Farr, Roger (1990). "Setting directions for language arts portfolios."
Educational Leadership, 48 (3), 103.
Johns, Jerry L. (1990). Literacy Portfolios. 11 pp. ED 319 020
Krest, Margie (1990). "Adapting the portfolio to meet student needs."
English Journal, 79 (2), 29-34. EJ 406 654
Olson, Mary W. (1991). "Portfolios: Education Tools." Reading
Psychology, 12 (1), 73-80. EJ number forthcoming
Stiggins, Richard (1987). "Design and development of performance
assessments." Education Measurement: Issues and Practice, 6 (3),
33-42. EJ 393 067
Valencia, Sheila (1990). "A portfolio approach to classroom
assessment: The whys, whats, and hows." The Reading Teacher, 43 (4),
338-40. EJ 403 672
Valencia, Sheila, et al. (1990). "Assessing reading and writing." In
Gerald G. Duffy (Ed.), Reading in the Middle School (2nd ed.). Newark,
DE: International Reading Association, 124-53. ED 320 132
Wiggins, Grant (1989). "A true test: Toward more authentic and
equitable assessment." Phi Delta Kappan, 70 (9), 703-13. EJ 388 723
Digest#66 is EDO-CS-91-09 and was published in October 1991 by the ERIC
Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, 2805 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN
47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800) 759-4723. ERIC Digests are in the public
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