Module 9

Portfolio Assessment
Learning objectives:
In this module, you will learn to:
a. explain what portfolio assessment is.
b. distinguish among the types of portfolio.
c. discuss how to use portfolios efectively.

A. What is Portfolio Assessment?

 The word "portfolio” comes from portare (carry) and foglio (sheet of paper).
 It is a “systematic and organized collection of a student's work that demonstrates the
student's skills and accomplishments. It is a purposeful collection of work that tells the
story of the student's progress and achievements in relation to a purpose. (Belgrad,
2008).
 Paulson, et al (1991) emphasized that it is a purposeful collection of student work that
exhibits the student's eforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas.
 Paulson et al (1991) asserts, as cited by Navarro. et al (2013) that a portfolio must
include student participation in selecting contents, the criteria for selection, the
criteria for judging merit and evidence of self-refection.
B. What does a Portfolio includes?
What classes of evidence of learning can be put in students' portfolios? These can be 1)
artifacts, 2) reproductions, 3) attestations and 4) productions. (Barton, 1997).
1. Artifacts are documents or products that are produced as a result of academic
classroom work. Examples are student papers and homework.
2. Reproductions are documentations of a student's work outside the classroom.
Examples are special projects like Capstone and a student's description of an interview
with the Chairman of the Education Committee in the Municipal Council.
3. Attestations are the teacher's or other responsible person’s documentation to attest to
the student's progress. A teacher for example, may write evaluative notes about
student's oral defense of a research paper and place them in the student's portfolio.
4. Productions are the documents that the student himself/ herself prepares. These
productions include: 1) goal statements (What does the student want to do with his/
her portfolio?); 2) refections (What are the student's refections about his/her work)
and 3) captions (These are the student's description and explanation of each piece of
work contained in the portfolio.
C. Types of Portfolio
1. An assessment portfolio, as the name implies, is intended to document what a
student has learned based on intended learning outcomes. The results of an
assessment portfolio informs both the teacher and the student the extent to which the
intended learning outcomes have been attained.
2. A developmental or growth portfolio consists of "the student's work over an
extended time frame (throughout the school year or even longer) to reveal the
student's progress in meeting learning targets.” (Santrock, 2009). Developmental or
growth portfolios provide concrete evidence on how much a student has changed or
developed over time.
3. A best-work portfolio, also known as showcase portfolio or display portfolio,
presents the student's most outstanding work. It documents student's proof of best
eforts with respect to learning outcomes. It may include evidence of student activities
beyond school (a story written at home, for example).
D. Essential Elements of Portfolio
Navarro et al, (2013) cites the following essential elements of a portfolio:
1. Cover letter “About the author” and “What my portfolio shows about my progress as a
learner” (written at the end but put at the beginning). The cover letter summarizes the
evidence of a student's learning and progress.
2. Table of Contents with numbered pages.
3. Entries - both core (item students have to include) and optional (items of student's
choice). The core elements will be required for each student and will provide a common
base from which to make decisions on assessment. The optional items will allow the
folder to represent the uniqueness of each student. Students can choose to include
“best” pieces of work, but also a piece of work which gave trouble or one that was less
successful and give reasons why.
4. Dates on all entries to facilitate proof of growth over time.
5. Drafts of aural/oral and written products and revised versions; i.e., frst drafts and
corrected/revised versions.
6. Refections can appear at diferent stages in the learning process (for formative and/or
summative purposes) and at the lower levels can be written in the mother tongue or by
students who fnd it difcult to express themselves in English.

E. Stages in Implementing Portfolio Assessment Efectively

 Navarro, et al (2013) enumerate the following stages in the implementation of portfolio
assessment in the classroom:
Stage 1: Identifying learning outcomes to assess through portfolio
Stage 2: Introducing the idea of portfolio assessment to your class
Stage 3. Specifcation of Portfolio Content
Stage 4. Giving clear and detailed guidelines for portfolio presentation
Stage 5. Informing key school ofcials, parents and other stakeholders.
Stage 6. Development of the Portfolio

Activity
Give the essence of a portfolio by way of an acrostic.
P – Preparation
O – of the
R – requirements
T – that needed
F – for the
O – overall performance of our
L –loving and caring students
I – in getting higher grades and
O – officially succeed their goals