Day 11 - Use of Student Portfolios in the Classroom

I really liked the idea of using student portfolios to report student’s progress and involve parents, which was covered in the article Student Portfolio’s, Classroom Uses…

I would agree with the article that it is highly important for parents to be educated on the use of portfolios - in my opinion, primarily because parents are accustomed to the manner in which they were once graded/assessed as a student. Furthermore, change in general can be difficult for parents to accept.

I like the idea of using portfolios to compare achievement across classrooms and/or schools. I believe this to be a more authentic way for teachers and the school to individualize and highlight each student’s growth. However, I agree with the article that if schools are to utilize student portfolios school wide, standards and guidelines for assessing the student would definitely have to be in place for consistency.

In order for teachers to effectively use portfolios, they will definitely require the support of administration.

My school does utilize student portfolios school wide; unfortunately, we do not consistently practice sharing them with the parents...(not sure why this practice exists?)....At any rate, the student portfolio, in general, have been used for teachers to learn about the students as they enter a new grade level. As I begin to plan for the new school year, I was excited thinking about implementing the use of electronic portfolios; however, now I think I must first educate our parents on the use of paper portfolios, prior to launching the use of e-portfolios!