Bibliography of Assessment Alternatives: Portfolios

Hansen, Jane. Literacy Portfolios: Helping Students Know Themselves. Located in:
Educational Leadership 49, 1992, pp. 66-68. Also available from: University of New
Hampshire, Morrill Hall, Curham, NH 03825.
This short article provides a good idea of what a literacy portfolio is and the positive effects
the process can have on students. The author describes a K-12 project in which students are
completely in control of what goes in their portfolios, and any rationale is accepted at face
value. The idea is to build self esteem and to help students get to know who they are as
readers. Items from outside of school are encouraged. There is also some help in the article
with how to get started and how to promote self reflection. There is no discussion of criteria,
but there are some examples of what students placed in their portfolios and why.
(AL# 400.3LITPOH)
Hebert, E.A. Portfolios Invite Reflection—From Students and Staff. Located in:
Educational Leadership 49, 1992, pp. 58-61. Also available from: Crow Island School,
1112 Willow Rd., Winnetka, IL 60093.
The author briefly describes a portfolio project and alternative progress reporting strategy
used in Crow Island School for grades K-8. Interesting aspects of this project include: the
cooperative learning approach undertaken by the staff; the fact that the process of
examination of values became at least as valuable as having the new assessment systems in
place; encouragement of student self-reflection in several ways including "Portfolio
Evenings" with parents; and the addition of a personal reflection in their reporting form to
parents. There is no mention of criteria for assessing progress and no samples of student
work.
(AL# 000.3PORINR)
Herman, Joan L. and Lynn Winters. Portfolio Research: A Slim Collection. Located in:
Educational Leadership, October 1994, pp. 48-55.
The author discusses portfolios from a technical viewpoint—does one need to be careful
about using portfolios to make judgments of student achievement? What could cause us to
make incorrect judgments? They discuss reliability, validity and feasibility in a fairly
accessible manner. They also point out, as the title suggests, that there needs to be more
work done before portfolios are used to make high-stakes decisions about individual students.
(AL# 150.6PORRES)
Assessment Resource Library, (503) 275-9582 37 Portfolio Bibliography
(formerly Test Center) NWREL, December 1996