This document discusses student portfolios and provides definitions, types, and guidelines for creating portfolios. It defines portfolios as collections of student work that show growth over time through selected samples and student reflection. Portfolios can be growth-focused, showcase best work, or a combination. The document provides tips for teachers to structure portfolio creation, including deciding on the type, subjects, organization, elements, and evaluating portfolios. Student portfolios are meant to encourage self-reflection and metacognition of learning.

1. STUDENT PORTFOLIOS
© Dr. Douglas Gosse
Methods, Faculty of Education
Nipissing University

2. 2
Definitions of Portfolio
• A portfolio is initially a collection of
student work, which over time is reduced
to a selection of work, which displays
student growth. The student is then able
to reflect on that growth and determine
where improvements could occur. The
student establishes goals for him/herself
to explain how to make those
improvements come about, a plan of
action.

3. 3
• “Portfolios are collections of student work
that exemplify, through the inclusion of
work samples, products, artifacts and
reflections, what student shave
accomplished and what they have learned
during a specific time.” (Schwartz &
Pollishuke, 2005c, p. 181)

4. 4
• “Portfolios are a purposeful collection of
student work that exhibits students’ efforts,
progress, achievements and reflections. It
is a comprehensive record of growth and
development. It is a process where the
student is involved in at all stages.”
(Rolheiser & Ross, 2000)

5. 5
General Observations about
Portfolios
• Portfolios provide new perspectives on learning,
which are difficult to observe through traditional
assessment tools.
• Portfolios work for students of all ability levels in
virtually all subject areas.
• Portfolios are not intended to be a replacement
of other assessment systems.
• Portfolios encourage self-direct learning and self
assessment.
• Portfolios foster learning about learning.
• Portfolios demonstrate progress towards goals

6. 6
Two Types of Portfolios
• Growth Portfolios demonstrate how students
have grown in their learning process and should
contain meaningful artifacts and reflections
about what they have done and learned.
• Showcase/Best Work Portfolios contain
reflections and demonstrations of only the
students’ best work.
• Combination of Growth and Showcase/Best
Work contains some of each of the types.

7. 7
Teacher Steps in Creating
Portfolios
• Decide on the type, growth, showcase or combination that your
students will create.
• Decide on which subject(s) the portfolio will depict.
• Determine the timeline for the portfolio.
• Establish storage for the portfolio.
• Create an organizational model for the portfolio. Types of
organizations could include: chronological, themes, topics, or
categories, or according to specific criteria. Students could be
involved in deciding the above. A table of contents should always be
one of the pieces of the organizational model.
• Determine the elements of the portfolio.
• Determine who will choose the materials to be placed in the
portfolio.

8. 8
Tips on Student Portfolios
by Bob Kizlik (2009)
• “Electronic portfolios have largely replaced the more
traditional bound paper type as the ability to present not
just information, but sound, motion, and color has
become the standard. Whether in the many varieties of
digital format, such as DVDs, CDs, the Internet, personal
websites, flash drives, or printed on paper, portfolios are
used in almost every aspect of communicating personal
information.”

9. 9
• “Portfolios in classrooms today are derived
from the visual and performing arts
tradition in which they serve to showcase
artists' accomplishments and personally
favored works.”

10. 10
• “A portfolio may be a folder containing a
student's best pieces and the student's
evaluation of the strengths and
weaknesses of the pieces. It may also
contain one or more works-in-progress
that illustrate the creation of a product,
such as an essay, evolving through
various stages of conception, drafting, and
revision.”

11. 11
Why use student portfolios?
• Metacognition:
– To emphasize student’s role in constructing knowledge
– To record and be aware of activities undertaken over time in the
development of written products
– To support cooperative teaming by offering an opportunity for
students to share and comment on each other's work
– To assess student growth and learning by the student, peers,
teacher, and family
– To get students to take a second look and think about
how they could improve future work
– To provide structure for involving students in
developing and understanding criteria for good efforts

12. 12
How do I start”
• “In building a portfolio of selected pieces
and explaining the basis for their choices,
students generate criteria for good work,
with teacher and peer input.”
• “Students need specifics with clear
guidelines and examples to get started on
their work, so these discussions need to
be well guided and structured.”

13. 13
Assessment & Evaluation
• Rubrics
• Rating scales
• Checklists (can be self and teacher assessed and evaluated)
• Conferencing
• Exhibitions
• Personally, as a social studies, French & English teacher, I grade
assignments as they come in (self, peer and teacher evaluations
using all 4 recording devices and many strategies) and students
store them in their portfolio/binder:
– E.g. English Grade 9, sections for (1) rough copies, (2) final
copies, (3) reflexive journal (4) tests, (5) essays (6) poetry (7)
class notes & questions
– These are very useful for parent/guardian-teacher-student
conferencing, after report cards, and for students at risk

14. 14
References
• A Teacher’s Professional Portfolio: A Working Guide – ETFO from
http://www.etfo.ca/Resources/ForTeachers/Documents/Professionalism.pdf
• Gosse, D. (2007, August 2008). Methods A-Z. Retrieved January 11, 2009,
from http://www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/douglasg/EDUC4315/methods_a-
z.htm
• Staff. (2006). Resumes and Cover Letters. Retrieved January 11, 2009,
from http://diversitycanada.com/index2.html
• Staff. (2000). Equity Foundation Statement and Commitments to Equity
Policy Implementation. Retrieved January 11, 2009, from
http://www.tdsb.on.ca/wwwdocuments/programs/Equity_in_Education/doc
s/Equity_Foundation_Statement.pdf