Portfolio Assessment

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Introduction

“Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students’ learning. The central purpose of assessment is to provide information on student achievement and progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning” (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2007, p.1). I believe an assessment strategy which best encapsulates this understanding of assessment is the portfolio. Specifically, a process portfolio provides a wealth of information about a student’s progress in literacy and not only allows a teacher to assess the learning that has taken place but also helps them to identify the areas in need of improvement. Additionally, the crucial element of the student’s self-assessment and self-reflection in the process of creating the portfolio also allows both the teacher and the student to understand the progress, strengths and weaknesses of their writing.

Portfolio assessment

There are a number of definitions in the literature to describe the strategy of portfolio assessment. Brady and Kennedy (2009) describe portfolio assessment as a collection of work samples or products collected over time to demonstrate student progress in learning and achievement of outcomes. This is the most succinct and ideal definition as the idea of assessment is to not only assess the final products of learning but to also assess the process a student takes to achieve that final product. Portfolios in general provide evidence of a how a student thinks, questions, analyses, synthesises, produces and creates (Borich & Tombari, 2004). Grace (2002) emphasises that they keep track of a student’s success rather than their failures. This naturally allows you to determine what their learning n...

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