This type of portfolio system is based on evidence of student learning measured by standards. Basically, the portfolio of student work is organized in a binder with dividers separating each standard. The following example is taken from a world language class but may be applied in any content area, whether it has state or national standards of student achievement.
How to implement this system:
1. Each student must have a binder with 5 dividers (or equal to the number of standards). For example, if the teacher wanted to keep track of students’ progress toward meeting the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, the binder would be divided into 5 sections: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparison, and Communities.
2. Throughout the course, the teacher explicitly tells students the learning targets (standards) for each lesson and guides students to place lesson assignments and/or assessments in the correct section of their portfolios (binders). Students also check these off on their standards-based progress reports.
3. At midterm and again at the end of the semester, students turn in their standards-based progress reports, self-evaluations, and portfolios to the teacher.
4. The teacher does a quick check of each student’s portfolio and completes a teacher evaluation. This evaluation includes written comments about what the student can do to improve his/her work, and the teacher may choose to give points for the completed portfolio, progress report, and self-evaluation. Lastly, the teacher returns the portfolios to students, and the cycle begins again.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Strengths:
•Provides time for students to self-assess and reflect on their learning
•Student work is contained in one place
•Tangible evidence of student progress
•Serves a good communication tools for student and parent conferences
•Requires teacher to align lessons/assignments with content standards
Weaknesses:
•Takes time to establish standards-based progress report and evaluation checklist
•Takes time to teach students how to use the portfolio and its purpose
•Lack of student organization slows evaluation process (for teacher & student)
•Teachers may have ~ 150 portfolios to evaluate at midterm and end of semester
Examples