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Action research on student portfolios.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This action research project explores ways in which portfolios can be used in a secondary English classroom. Students created portfolios by choosing which works were included in the final product.

Rationale

Many urban secondary students have trouble writing effective discussion questions, opinion pieces, business letters, explanations of processes, and literary analysis. Many have trouble maintaining a structure that provides the relevant information in an orderly fashion while maintaining the voice of the writer. Students rely too heavily on the remarks and grades of teachers rather than learning to recognize and evaluate quality work of their own or that of other students. According to Wiggins (1990), "Assessment is authentic when we directly examine student performances on worthy intellectual tasks." (pg 18) I plan to use portfolios and their assessment by both the teacher and student to address all of these problems.

Research in the areas of authentic assessment, constructivism, and portfolios will be important parts of my project. According to Peggy Bishop (1996), portfolios are one of the best ways for students to analyze their strengths and weaknesses as writers, to construct learning as they need it to create the portfolio, and to demonstrate their abilities in a variety of ways. If our educational system is going to change to address both the needs of our students and the increasing demands of society, then a "back to basics" approach that stresses direct teaching and standardized testing is not the answer. Because information changes so rapidly, students must learn to manage the exchange of information through research, reading, and evaluation that leads to writing about what they have found and learned in an organized fashion. Creating a portfolio that showcases the talent and growth of the student as a writer, reader, and editor serves the needs of the student, and it helps to create literate, confident problem-solvers who have tangible evidence of their success.

Background

One major area of the literature on writing assessment addresses the validity of the portfolio as an assessment tool and the effectiveness of authentic assessment in comparison to standardized testing and the use of objective, quantitatively measured tests. The second area is that of the construction and use of the portfolio. While some are continuous works in progress, others are collections of selected works that represent only the best work the student has done. The selection and evaluation process involves the teacher and student to varying degrees. While the use of standards and rubrics helps to streamline the goals and expectations of portfolio use, it still allows for the artistic element of the teacher and the learner to surface and to avoid the pitfall of finding the "right way" to...

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