The Advantages of Portfolio Assessments
A portfolio is a systematic collection of a student's work and related materials that allows a teacher or potential employer to comprehensively assess and evaluate the student's activities, accomplishments and achievements. Portfolio assessment is a process that encourages reflective learning and teaching and arms a student with the best knowledge of themselves. While portfolio assessment can be used in any subject area, it most commonly is used in fine art, graphic design, photography, journalism and music. Self-Evaluation Portfolio assessment allows the student to continuously self-evaluate, periodically reflecting on his past work and thinking critically as he prepares to meet future goals. Self-evaluation can help build the foundation for a confident, competent student. Student Work Samples While standardized-test results are a general assessment of the knowledge retained by a student, portfolio assessment provides genuine and varied samples of a student's work.