This Digest is intended to help teacher candidates systematically gauge their progress toward the teaching profession by developing a portfolio. Portfolios are one way to assess teacher candidates, and they are a major requirement for experienced teachers seeking board certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The…

Presents a 12-item annotated bibliography that represents a sampling of the many inclusions in the ERIC database concerning the use of portfolios to assess students' literacy growth and achievement. (SR)

Presents a 17-item annotated bibliography of items (published between 1990 and 1992) from the ERIC database concerning the use of portfolios in reading and language arts. (SR)

To improve education, educators and policymakers must acknowledge the fact that often what happens in the classroom is governed by achievement tests, college entrance examinations, and other standardized tests. It is for this reason that many have begun to look at methods of assessment when considering the improvement of education. This document…

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. Portfolio collections can form the foundation for teacher-student conferences, a vital component of portfolio assessment. The use of…

In this digest, readers are introduced to the scope of instructional program evaluation and evaluators' changing roles in school districts. A program evaluation measures outcomes based on student-attainment goals, implementation levels, and external factors such as budgetary restraints and community support. Instructional program evaluation may be…

This book details the theory and practice of portfolio assessment in mathematics and science for the elementary and middle grades as implemented in the Authentic Assessment for Multiple Users Project funded by the National Science Foundation. Included in this document are specific assessment tasks, teacher directions for administering these tasks,…

The principal goals of the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport's large-scale writing assessment are to determine if a writing program actually helps students to write better and, if so, whether that growth can be measured during the college years. Portfolio assessment has become an attractive alternative to single-test essay at SUNY…

Pressed by the vise created by the "era of accountability" and evolving theory which emphasizes constructing meaning and problem solving, educators have become more articulate about defending the classroom impact of new theory. Assessment in the classroom is following contemporary descriptions of learning, thinking, and language use as…

The world of stable, long-term employment is coming to an end. Part-time, contingent, and contract workers now account for more than 35% of the U.S. work force. It has been suggested that individuals will become "portfolio workers" with "portfolio careers." Individuals will maintain portfolios of their skills, abilities, and achievements and will…

As a result of the recent growth in homeschooling in the United States, colleges and universities have received an increasing number of applications from home-schooled students. Admissions officers have found it necessary to assess whether and how their admissions requirements should be modified to allow fair review of the credentials submitted by…

This digest discusses the use of teaching portfolios in higher education, in light of recent criticisms of faculty teaching productivity and the reward structure of universities. Teaching portfolios can be defined as vehicles for documenting teaching (with an emphasis on demonstrating excellence), empowering professors to gain dominion over their…

An outgrowth of the educational reform movement is interest in alternative forms of assessment. One response to the call for increased rigor in measuring learner progress has been the suggestion that assessment should be restructured to resemble real life, with learners taking more responsibility for assessing their own progress. Portfolio…

Educators use the term "authentic assessment" to refer to the practice of realistic student involvement in the evaluation of student achievement. Authentic assessments are performance-based and instructionally appropriate. One method of authentic assessment is the assembly and review of a portfolio of a student's work. The portfolio is a…

Portfolio assessment is an alternative form of assessment that is particularly attractive to adult, career, and vocational educators because it includes the assessment of active learning and performance rather than the mere recall of memorized facts. Portfolio assessment serves the interests of business and industry by forging a connection between…