Definition of Portfolio

It refers to the collection of projects and works of students that exemplifies their skills, attitudes, and
interests within a certain period of time. It is the compilation of students’ best works and materials
which are essential to assess their progress or achievement. Examples of portfolio work samples are
poems, songs, letters, drama scripts, drafted and revised stories written by the students in their Literature
or Language subject, and final solutions of students in solving complex mathematics problems, etc.

According to Ferenz (2001), it is the systematic, longitudinal collection of student work created in
response to specific, known instructional objectives and evaluated in relation to the same criteria.

 Student Portfolio  is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress,
and achievements in one or more areas.

 Student portfolios take many forms, as discussed below, so it is not easy to describe them. A portfolio is
not the pile of student work that accumulates over a semester or year. Rather, a portfolio contains a
purposefully selected subset of student work. "Purposefully" selecting student work means deciding
what type of story you want the portfolio to tell. For example, do you want it to highlight or celebrate
the progress a student has made? Then, the portfolio might contain samples of earlier and later work,
often with the student commenting upon or assessing the growth.

 Do you want the portfolio to capture the process of learning and growth? Then, the student and/or
teacher might select items that illustrate the development of one or more skills with reflection upon the
process that led to that development. Or, do you want the portfolio to showcase the final products or best
work of a student? In that case, the portfolio would likely contain samples that best exemplify the
student's current ability to apply relevant knowledge and skills. All decisions about a portfolio
assignment begin with the type of story or purpose for the portfolio. The particular purpose(s) served,
the number and type of items included, the process for selecting the items to be included, how and
whether students respond to the items selected, and other decisions vary from portfolio to portfolio and
serve to define what each portfolio looks like.

Are Portfolios Authentic Assessments?

Some suggest that portfolios are not really assessments at all because they are just collections of
previously completed assessments. But, if we consider assessing as gathering of information about
someone or something for a purpose, then a portfolio is a type of assessment. Sometimes the portfolio is
also evaluated or graded, but that is not necessary to be considered an assessment.

 Are portfolios authentic assessments? Student portfolios have most commonly been associated with
collections of artwork and, to a lesser extent, collections of writing. Students in these disciplines are
performing authentic tasks which capture meaningful application of knowledge and skills. Their
portfolios often tell compelling stories of the growth of the students' talents and showcase their skills
through a collection of authentic performances. Educators are expanding this story-telling to other
disciplines such as physical education, mathematics and the social sciences to capture the variety of
demonstrations of meaningful application from students within these disciplines.
Portfolios provide an excellent vehicle for consideration of process and the development of related
skills. So, portfolios are frequently included with other types of authentic assessments because they
move away from telling a student's story though test scores and, instead, focus on a meaningful
collection of student performance

Furthermore, in the more thoughtful portfolio assignments, students are asked to reflect on their work, to
engage in self-assessment and goal-setting. Those are two of the most authentic skills students need to
develop to successfully manage in the real world. Research has found that students in classes that
emphasize improvement, progress, effort and the process of learning rather than grades and normative
performance are more likely to use a variety of learning strategies and have a more positive attitude
toward learning. Yet in education we have shortchanged the process of learning in favor of the products
of learning. Students are not regularly asked to examine how they succeeded or failed or improved on a
task or to set goals for future work; the final product and evaluation of it receives the bulk of the
attention in many classrooms. Consequently, students are not developing the metacognitive skills that
will enable them to reflect upon and make adjustments in their learning in school and beyond.

Why use Portfolios?

The previous section identifies several valuable goals that make portfolios attractive in education. The
sections that follow emphasize that identifying specific goals or purposes for assigning a portfolio is the
first and most critical step in creating such an assignment. Just as identifying a standard guides the rest
of the steps of developing an authentic assessment, identifying the purpose(s) for a portfolio influences
all the other decisions involved in producing a portfolio assignment. These are several of the most
common purposes here which also elaborates on how each purpose affects the other decisions in the
section below.

Purposes

Why might you use a portfolio assignment? Portfolios typically are created for one of the following
three purposes: to show growth, to showcase current abilities, and to evaluate cumulative achievement.
Some examples of such purposes include 

1. Growth Portfolios
2. to show growth or change over time
3. to help develop process skills such as self-evaluation and goal-setting
4. to identify strengths and weaknesses
5. to track the development of one more products/performances

2. Showcase Portfolios
3. to showcase end-of-year/semester accomplishments
4. to prepare a sample of best work for employment or college admission
5. to showcase student perceptions of favorite, best or most important work
6. to communicate a student's current aptitudes to future teachers

 
3. Evaluation Portfolios
4. to document achievement for grading purposes
5. to document progress towards standards
6. to place students appropriately 

The growth portfolio emphasizes the process of learning whereas the showcase portfolio emphasizes the
products of learning. Of course, a portfolio may tell more than one story, including more than one
category above. For example, a showcase portfolio might also be used for evaluation purposes, and a
growth portfolio might also showcase "final" performances or products. What is critical is that the
purpose(s) is clear throughout the process to student, teacher and any other pertinent audience.

How do you Create a Portfolio Assignment?

|Most tasks are problems to be solved, or questions to be answered. So, I find it useful to approach how
to do something by thinking of it as a series of questions to be answered. Thus, I will attempt to offer a
possible answer to the question above by answering a series of questions that need to be addressed when
considering the design of a portfolio assignment. Those questions are: 

1. Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?

2. Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?
3. Content: What samples of student work will be included?
4. Process: What processes (e.g., selection of work to be included, reflection on work,
conferencing) will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?
5. Management: How will time and materials be managed in the development of the portfolio?
6. Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences?
7. Evaluation: If the portfolio is to be used for evaluation, when and how should it be evaluated?

Purpose: What is the purpose(s) of the portfolio?

As mentioned above, 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. Certainly, you should not assign a portfolio unless you have a compelling reason to do so.
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. You and your students need
to believe that the selection of and reflection upon their work serves one or more meaningful purposes.

Audience: For what audience(s) will the portfolio be created?

Selecting relevant audiences for a portfolio goes hand-in-hand with identifying your purposes. Who
should see the evidence of a student's growth? The student, teacher and parents are good audiences to
follow the story of a student's progress on a certain project or in the development of certain skills. Who
should see a student's best or final work? Again, the student, teacher and parents might be good
audiences for such a collection, but other natural audiences come to mind such as class or schoolmates,
external audiences such as employers or colleges, the local community or school board. As the teacher,
you can dictate what audiences will be considered or you can let students have some choice in the
decision.

Just as the purposes for the portfolio should guide the development of it, the selection of audiences
should shape its construction. For example, for audiences outside the classroom it is helpful to include a
cover page or table of contents that helps someone unfamiliar with the assignment to navigate through
the portfolio and provide context for what is found inside. Students need to keep their audiences in mind
as they proceed through each step of developing their portfolios. A good method for checking whether a
portfolio serves the anticipated audiences is to imagine different members of those audiences viewing
the portfolio. Can each of them tell why you created the portfolio? Are they able to make sense of the
story you wanted to tell them? Can they navigate around and through the portfolio? Do they know why
you included what you did? Have you used language suitable for those audiences?

Content: What samples of student work will be included?

As you can imagine, the answer to the question of content is dependent on the answers to the questions
of purpose and audience. What should be included? Well, what story do you want to tell? Before I
consider what types of items might be appropriate for different purposes, let me make a more general
point. First, hypothetically, there is no limit as to what can be included in a portfolio. Paper products
such as essays, homework, letters, projects, etc. are most common. But more and more other types of
media are being included in portfolios. Audio and videotapes, cd-roms, two- and three-dimensional
pieces of art, posters and anything else that can reflect the purposes identified can be included. Some
schools are putting all the artifacts onto a cd-rom by videotaping performances, scanning paper
products, and digitizing audio. All of those files are then copied onto a student's cd-rom for a semester
or a year or to follow the student across grades as a cumulative record. Realistically, you have to decide
what is manageable. But if the most meaningful evidence of the portfolio's goals cannot be captured on
paper, then you may consider including other types of media.

Obviously, there are a considerable number and variety of types of student work that can be selected as
samples for a portfolio. Using the purposes given above for each type of portfolio, I have listed just a
few such possible samples of work in the following tables that could be included in each type of
portfolio.

Growth Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 early and later pieces of work

 early and later tests/scores
 rough drafts and final drafts
a. to show growth or
change over time  reflections on growth
 goal-setting sheets
 reflections on progress toward goal(s)

 samples which reflect growth of process skills

b. to help develop
Growth Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 self-reflection sheets accompanying samples of work

 reflection sheets from teacher or peer
 identification of strengths/weaknesses

process skills  goal-setting sheets

 reflections on progress towards goal(s)
 see more detail below under Process (Links to an external
site.) below

 samples of work reflecting specifically identified strengths and

weaknesses
c. to identify  reflections on strengths and weaknesses of samples
strengths/weaknesses  goal-setting sheets
 reflection on progress towards goal(s)

 obviously, drafts of the specific product or performance to be

d. to track
tracked
development of one or
 self-reflections on drafts
more products or
performances  reflection sheets from teacher or peer

Showcase Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 samples of best work

 samples of earlier and later work to document progress
a. to showcase end-of-  final tests or scores
year/semester  discussion of growth over semester/year
accomplishments  awards or other recognition
 teacher or peer comments

 cover letter
 sample of work
b. to prepare a sample
 reflection on process of creating sample of work
of best work for
employment or  reflection on growth

college admission  teacher or peer comments

 description of knowledge/skills work indicates

 samples of student's favorite, best or most important work

c. to showcase student
Showcase Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 drafts of that work to illustrate path taken to its final form

 commentary on strengths/weaknesses of work
perceptions of
 reflection on why it is favorite, best or most important
favorite, best or most
important  reflection on what has been learned from work
 teacher or peer comments

 representative sample of current work

 match of work with standards accomplished
d. to communicate a
 self-reflection on current aptitudes
student's current
aptitude  teacher reflection on student's aptitudes
 identification of future goals

Evaluation Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 samples of representative work in each subject/unit/topic to be

graded
 samples of work documenting level of achievement on
course/grade-level goals/standards/objectives
a. to document  tests/scores
achievement for  rubrics/criteria used for evaluation of work (when applied)
grading  self-reflection on how well samples indicate attainment
ofcourse/grade-level goals/standards/objectives
 teacher reflection of attainment of goals/standards
 identification of strengths/weaknesses

 list of applicable goals and standards

 representative samples of work aligned with respective
goals/standards
 rubrics/criteria used for evaluation of work
b. to document
progress towards  self-reflection on how well samples indicate attainment

standards ofcourse/grade-level goals/standards/objectives

 teacher reflection of attainment of goals/standards
 analysis or evidence of progress made toward standards over
course of semester/year

 representative samples of current work

c. to place students
Evaluation Portfolios: What samples might be included?

Purpose Some possible inclusions

 representative samples of earlier work to indicate rate of progress

 classroom tests/scores
 external tests/evaluations
 match of work with standards accomplished
appropriately  self-reflection on current aptitudes
 teacher reflection on student's aptitudes
 parent reflection on student's aptitudes
 other professionals' reflections on student's aptitudes

Other Content

In addition to samples of student work and reflection upon that work, a portfolio might also include a
table of contents or a cover letter (both typically composed by the student) to aid a reader in making
sense of the purposes, processes and contents of the portfolio. This can be particularly useful if the
portfolio is to be shared with external audiences unfamiliar with the coursework such as parents, other
educators and community members. 

Process: What processes will be engaged in during the development of the portfolio?

One of the greatest attributes of the portfolio is its potential for focusing on the processes of learning.
Too often in education we emphasize the products students create or the outcomes they achieve. But we
do not give sufficient attention to the processes required to create those products or outcomes, the
processes involved in self-diagnosis and self-improvement, or the metacognitive processes of thinking.
As a result, the products or outcomes are not as good as we or the students would like because they are
often unsure how to get started, how to self-diagnose or self-correct or how to determine when a piece
of work is "finished."

Although a variety of processes can be developed or explored through portfolios, I will focus on three of
the most common:

 selection of contents of the portfolio;

 reflection on the samples of work and processes;
 conferencing about the contents and processes. 

Selection of Contents

Once again, identifying the purpose(s) for the portfolio should drive the selection process. As listed in
the tables above, different samples of student work will likely be selected for different purposes.
Additionally, how samples are selected might also differ depending on the purpose. For example, for an
evaluation portfolio, the teacher might decide which samples need to be included to evaluate student
progress. On the other hand, including the student in the decision-making process of determining
appropriate types of samples for inclusion might be more critical for a growth portfolio to promote
meaningful reflection. Finally, a showcase portfolio might be designed to include significant input from
the student on which samples best highlight achievement and progress, or the teacher might primarily
make those decisions.

Furthermore, audiences beyond the teacher and student might have input into the content of the
portfolio, from team or department members, principals and district committees to external agencies to
parents and community members. External audiences are most likely to play a role for evaluation
portfolios. However, it is important to remember there are no hard rules about portfolios.
Anything can be included in a portfolio. Anyone can be involved in the processes of selection,
reflection and evaluation of a portfolio. Flexibility applies to portfolios as it does to any authentic
assessment. That is, you should be true to your purpose(s), but you should feel no constraints on how
you meet them with a portfolio assignment.

How might the selection take place?

What will be described below are just a few of the many possible avenues for selecting which samples
will be included in a portfolio. But these examples should give you a good sense of some of the choices
and some of the decisions involved. 

When?

 when a sample of work is completed—at the point a piece of work is ready to be turned in (or
once the work has been returned by the teacher) the student or teacher identifies that work for
inclusion in the portfolio;
 at periodic intervals—instead of selecting samples when they are completed, the samples can
be stored so that selection might occur every two (three, six or nine) weeks or once (twice or three
times) every quarter (trimester or semester);
 at the end of the ... unit, quarter, semester, year, etc. 

By whom?

 by the student—students are the most common selectors, particularly for portfolios that ask
them to reflect on the work selected. Which work students select depends on the criteria used to
choose each piece (see below).
 by the teacher—teachers may be the selector, particularly when identifying best pieces of work
to showcase a student's strengths or accomplishments.
 by the student and teacher—sometimes portfolio selection is a joint process involving
conversation and collaboration.
 by peers—a student might be assigned a "portfolio partner" or "portfolio buddy" who assists the
student in selecting appropriate pieces of work often as part of a joint process involving
conversation and collaboration. A peer might also provide some reflection on a piece of work to be
included in the portfolio.
 by parents—parents might also be asked to select a piece or two for inclusion that they
particularly found impressive, surprising, reflective of improvement, etc. 

Based on what criteria?

 best work—selection for showcase portfolios will typically focus on samples of work that
illustrate students' best performance in designated areas or the culmination of progress made
 evidence of growth—selection for growth portfolios will focus on identifying samples of work
and work processes (e.g., drafts, notes) that best capture progress shown on designated tasks,
processes or acquisition of knowledge and skills. For example, students might be asked to choose
 samples of earlier and later work highlighting some skill or content area
 samples of rough drafts and final drafts
 work that traces the development of a particular product or performance
 samples of work reflecting specifically identified strengths and weaknesses
 evidence of achievement—particularly for showcase and evaluation portfolios, selection might
focus on samples of work that illustrate current levels of competence in designated areas or
particular exemplars of quality work
 evidence of standards met—similarly, selection could focus on samples of work that illustrate
how successfully students have met certain standards
 favorite/most important piece—to help develop recognition of the value of the work completed
and to foster pride in that work, selection might focus on samples to which students or parents or
others find a connection or with which they are particularly enamored
 one or more of the above—a portfolio can include samples of work for multiple reasons and,
thus, more than one of the above criteria (or others) could be used for selecting samples to be
included

Conferencing on Student Work and Processes

Conferencing typically takes several forms:

 teacher/student—sometimes teachers are able to informally meet with a few students, one at a
time, as the other students work on some task in class. Other times, teachers use class time to
schedule one-on-one conferences during "conference days." Some teachers are able to schedule
conferences outside of class time. Typically such conferences take only a few minutes, but they give
the teacher and the student time to recap progress, ask questions, and consider suggestions or
strategies for improvement.
 teacher/small group—other teachers, often in composition classes, meet with a few students at
a time to discuss issues and questions that are raised, sharing common problems and reflections
across students.
 student/student—to conserve time as well as to give students the opportunity to learn how to
provide feedback along with receiving it, teachers sometimes structure peer-to-peer conferencing.
The focus might be teacher-directed (e.g., "share with each other a sample of work you recently
 selected for your portfolio") or student-directed (e.g., students use the time to get feedback on some
work for a purpose they determine). 

Communication: How and when will the portfolio be shared with pertinent audiences? 

Why share the portfolio?

By the nature of the purposes of portfolios -- to show growth, to showcase excellence -- portfolios are
meant to be shared. The samples, reflections and other contents allow or invite others to observe and
celebrate students' progress and accomplishments. A portfolio should tell a story, and that story should
be told.

Students should primarily be the ones telling their stories. As students reflect on the balance of their
work over some period of time, there is often a great sense of pride at the growth and the
accomplishment. By telling their own stories students can take ownership of the process that led to the
growth and achievement. Assessment is no longer something done to them; the students are playing an
active role through self-assessment.

Furthermore, others will be able to recognize and celebrate in the growth and accomplishment of the
students if their work is communicated beyond the borders of the classroom. A portfolio provides a
unique vehicle for capturing and communicating student learning. Parents tend to learn more about their
children's abilities and propensities through a portfolio than they do through the odd assignment that
makes it home and into the parents' hands. Moreover, other interested members of the school and local
community can recognize and celebrate the accomplishment.

Finally, the portfolio can provide an excellent tool for accountability. Parents, educators and community
members can learn a great deal about what is happening in a classroom or school or district by viewing
and hearing about the contents of these stories. Perhaps more importantly, the student and teacher can
uncover a vivid picture of where the student was, where she has traveled to, how she got there and what
she accomplished along the way -- a fascinating and enlightening story.

 Considering the audience

Audiences within the classroom

In some classrooms, a portfolio is used much like other assignments as evidence of progress towards or
completion of course or grade level goals and standards. In such cases, the only audience might be the
teacher who evaluates all the student work. To effectively communicate with the teacher about a body of
work, the student may be asked to write a brief introduction or overview capturing her perceptions of the
progress (for a growth portfolio) or accomplishments (for a showcase portfolio) reflected in the
collection of work. Teachers who assign portfolios not only want to see student work but want to see
students reflect upon it. 

As a classroom assessor, the teacher also has the benefit of communicating face-to-face with each
student. Such conferences take a variety of forms and vary in their frequency. For example,
 A teacher might review a portfolio at one or more intervals, and then prepare questions for the
face-to-face conversation with each student;
 A student might run the conference by taking the teacher through her portfolio, highlighting
elements consistent with the purpose of the portfolio;
 A "pre-conference" might occur in which teacher and student discuss how the portfolio should
be constructed to best showcase it or best prepare it for evaluation. 

Additionally, classmates can serve as an audience for a portfolio. Particulary for older students, some
teachers require or encourage students to present their portfolios to each other for feedback, dialogue
and modeling. For example,

 Pairs of students can review each other's work to provide feedback, identify strengths and
weaknesses, and suggest future goals;
 Sharing with each other also provides an opportunity to tell a story or just brag;
 Students can always benefit from seeing good (or poor) models of work as well as models of
meaningful reflection and goal-setting.
 As students hear themselves tell each other about the value and meaning of their work it will
become more valuable and meaningful to them.

 Audiences within the family and school community

As many of us have experienced with our own children, parents sometimes only receive a small,
fragmented picture of their children's school work. Some work never makes it home, some is lost, some
is hidden, etc. It can be even harder for parents to construct a coherent picture out of that work to get a
real sense of student growth or accomplishment or progress toward a set of standards.

Portfolios provide an opportunity to give parents a fuller glimpse of the processes and products and
progress of their children's learning. Many teachers intentionally involve the parents in the development
of the portfolio or make parents an audience or both. 

For example, to involve parents in the process, 

 teachers make sure parents view most student work on a consistent basis; for example,
 some teachers require students to get much of their work signed by parents to be returned to
school;
 some teachers send work home in a two-pocket folder in which one pocket contains work that
can stay home and the other pocket contains work that can be viewed by parents but should be
returned to school, each pocket carefully labeled as such;
 some teachers use a three-pocket folder in which the third pocket is a place parents can pass
along notes or comments or questions;
 teachers also invite parents to provide feedback or ask questions about student work; for
example,
 a reflection sheet, perhaps similar to the ones students complete, can be attached to some of the
pieces of work sent home inviting parents to make comments, ask questions or provide evaluation;
 parents might be invited to provide a summary reflection of work they have seen so far;
 or simply identify one or two pieces of work or aspects of their children's work that they most
like or are most surprised about.

To share the portfolio with parents,

 many schools host Portfolio Nights, at which students often guide their parent or parents through
the story of their work. Having the Night at school allows the student to more easily share the
variety of two- and three-dimensional work they have created.
 after teacher evaluation of the portfolio (if that is done), the complete portfolio might be sent
home for the parents to view and possibly respond to. This might occur once at the end of the
process or periodically along the way.

A Portfolio Night also provides an opportunity for other members of the school or larger community to
view student portfolios. The portfolios may simply be on display to be sampled, or students might guide
other audiences through their work.

Similarly, during the school day students can share their portfolios with students from other classes or
with school personnel. 

Audiences beyond the classroom, school and family

An external audience for student work can serve to motivate students to give more attention to and take
more seriously their performance. First, it may give more legitimacy to assigned work. If the work is to
be externally reviewed, it suggests that it is not simply "busy work" that provides a grade but that it is
something authentic valued outside the walls of the classroom. Second, some students may take more
care in their work when they believe a new, different, and perhaps expert audience will be viewing it. 

To extend the audience beyond the classroom, school and family, teachers have adopted a variety of
approaches, including

 expanding the audience at Portfolio Nights to include a larger community, perhaps even authors,
or scientists or other professionals relevant to the work in the portfolio;
 inviting professionals or experts in a particular field to come listen to presentations of the
portfolios;
 inviting professionals or experts to serve as one of the reviewers or evaluators of the portfolios;
 encourage or require students to share their work with a larger audience through the Web or
other media. Publishing on the Web also allows students to solicit comments or questions.

Preparing the student to share

Just as we do not expect children to write or speak well without considerable instruction and practice, it
is not reasonable to expect students to effortlessly and effectively share their stories without some help.
Teachers have devised a number of strategies to prepare students to communicate with the target
audience. Some such strategies include
 pairing up students in class ("portfolio partners") to practice presenting their work to each other;
 pairing up the author of the portfolio with an older student a few grades above. The younger
student would practice presenting her work as if she is presenting it to the intended audience (e.g.,
parents at a Portfolio Night). Both students can benefit as the older student provides feedback and
encouragement and may increase her own self-efficacy for the task through modeling and tutoring
the younger student.
 providing models. Teachers provide models of good portfolios that illustrate how the product
itself can effectively communicate with an audience through the way it is constructed. Teachers can
also model the process of communication by walking through how he or she would share a portfolio
with a specific audience.