Along with discussion of format and design of electronic portfolios, this article addresses the larger question of what happens to teachers when they invest in creating a professional portfolio. Are they able to transform this experience into more authentic assessment with their own students? Beside acquiring proficiency in using portfolio…

Outlines a four-step portfolio plan that takes into consideration the integrity of portfolios as measurement tools, and describes steps teachers can follow to reduce the frustration they may feel when they use portfolios in their literacy classrooms. Discusses planning the focus, selecting the content, adding materials and building a portfolio,…

Describes 10 variations on the portfolio for assessment: literacy portfolio, reflection portfolio, "reflection the beauty" portfolio, process portfolio, student portfolio, reading portfolio, featherweight portfolio, showcase portfolio, exit portfolio, and literacy portfolio revisited. Accompanies each one with a "recipe." (SR)

Provides a definition for a portfolio and identifies three distinct models for portfolios, each reflecting a different primary purpose. Concludes by drawing connections between productive portfolios and effective classrooms. (SR)

Argues that a portfolio process that encourages teachers in training to practice strategies that result in thoughtfulness will help them avoid entrenchment, and can facilitate and demonstrate professional growth. Describes how to organize and use such portfolios, showing how they contain evidence of thoughtful teaching and learning and make…

Reviews mail sent in response to a year's worth of "Middle School" columns in this journal. Notes that the column on a middle scholar's inquiry excursion went completely unnoticed and that the column on portfolio assessment received the most attention. (SR)

Electronic portfolios allow students to include video, images, hyperlinks, and audio, along with written texts, to create varied and comprehensive representations of what they have accomplished. Such collections of information also change the ways that teachers and students choose to present themselves and the ways that we read these presentations…

Describes one middle school's two-week end-of-school-year unit called Community Studies, in which students select several activities (from more than 40, many of them outdoors), which are assessed through portfolios. (SR)

Discusses answers to teachers' questions about portfolio assessment, including: definition of portfolios and portfolio assessment, its apparent advantages and weaknesses, data to be included in portfolios, how portfolios are assessed, whether they are valid and reliable, how portfolio assessment is being used, how it fits with performance…

Argues that the English/Language Arts Standards document is a powerful tool for guiding discussion about the connection between evaluation and learning that is applicable across a wide spectrum, including policymaking, curriculum development, and classroom practice. Argues that critically examining issues like portfolio use in conjunction with the…

Among the criticisms often made of high-stakes assessments in the United States is that they promote "teaching to the test." There is little question that, under pressure to produce higher test scores, schools tend to implement more standardized curriculums that are geared toward preparing students to perform well on year-end tests.…

Theoretical background for researching student learning, engagement, and collaboration through the development of electronic portfolios is described in this article. After providing an overview of the limited research on portfolios in education, the author discusses the accepted definitions, multiple purposes, and conflicting theoretical paradigms…

Electronic portfolio technology can be used in different contexts to create classroom communities in which everyone, not just the teacher, cares about each student's learning. The authors describe how students in an urban middle school, undergraduate teacher preparation program, and graduate leadership program used an electronic bulletin board and…

Describes how a portfolio process implemented at an alternative secondary school encouraged resistant students to join in school-related literacy activities. Notes how it also gave the students a chance to self-assess, set and attain goals, and develop a personal relationship with the teacher. (SR)

As digital portfolios become more prevalent in teacher education, the purposes and processes for creating them have become contested. Originally meant to be critical and reflective spaces for learning about multimedia and conceived as contributing to professional growth, research shows that digital portfolios are now increasingly being used to…