This study examines one part of a validity argument for portfolio assessments of teaching practice used as an indicator of teaching quality to inform a licensure decision. We investigate the relationship among portfolio assessment scores, a test of teacher knowledge (ETS's Praxis I and II), and changes in student achievement (on…

Examines how students' participation in the process of constructing portfolios may affect their motivation for and engagement in literacy learning. Uses vignettes of students from an urban high school to lay out initial understandings of portfolios, and articulates an emerging theory around process portfolios. Suggests a broadening of the focus of…

Considers four key decision points in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' assessment-development process: development of content standards; development of tasks guiding candidates in providing evidence about their teaching; development of scoring rubrics and benchmarks; and determination of the performance standard that…

This qualitative study is intended to illuminate factors that affect the generalizability of portfolio assessments of beginning teachers. By generalizability, we refer here to the extent to which the portfolio assessment supports generalizations from the particular evidence reflected in the portfolio to the conception of competent teaching…

Describes the processes in which judges, trying out an integrative approach to portfolio evaluation for the first time, engage as they construct and document their conclusions. The research agenda in which this research is situated is described. (SLD)

A central dilemma of portfolio assessment is that as the richness of the data available to readers increases, so do the challenges involved in ensuring acceptable reliability among readers. Drawing on empirical and theoretical work in discourse analysis, ethnomethodology, and other fields, we argue that this dilemma results, in part, from the fact…