BEYOND TESTS: Alternatives in Assessment

Presented by: Maryam Almutairy

Instructor: Dr. Aisha Khojah

Objectives :

• What is a portfolio

• The process of a portfolio

• Advantages and challenges

• Issues related to portfolios assessment

The difference between testing and assessing

Assessmentconnotes a much

broader concept in that most of the time when teachers are teaching, they are also assessing.

Testsare formal procedures

usually administered within strict time limitations, to sample the performance of a test-taker in a specified domain

the reason behind the emerging of alternatives in assessment :

One of the disturbing things about tests isthe extent to which many people accept theresults uncritically, while others believe thatall testing is invidious. But tests are simplymeasurement tools: It is the use to which weput their results that can be appropiate orinappropiate’.

Bailey (1998)

A new proposal that emerged in the 1990’s .The

proposal was to assemble additional measurement

of students.

Portfolios

Journals

Observations

self-assessments

peer-assessments

What should alternative assessments

do?

• Ask Ss to perform, create, produce or do something

• Tap higher level thinking skills

• Use tasks that are meaningful

• People, not machines, do the scoring

• Require new instructional and assessment roles for

teachers

Portfolios : a new wave in assessment

What is a Portfolio

“A portfolio is more than just a container full of stuff. It’s a

systematic and organized collection of evidence used by

the teacher and student to monitor growth of the student’s

knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a specific subject area

And so it is what’s in the container, rather than the container

itself, that becomes a student’s portfolio”(Vavrus,1996)

What is a Portfolio

“a portofolio is a purposeful collection of

students work that demonstrates ... Their

efforts, progress, and achievements in given

areas” (Genesee ,Upshur, 1996)

Purposeful

Without purpose, a portfolio is just a folder of student work.

before you can design the portfolio assignment and before

your students can begin constructing their portfolios you

and your students need to be clear about the story the

portfolio will be telling. Portfolios take work to create,

manage and assess. They can easily feel like busywork and

a burden to you and your students if they just become

folders filled with student papers. The purpose of the

portfolio plays a major role in determining content validity .

Content of Portfolios

“A portfolio typically includes evidence drawn from

practice”( Baume,Yorke,2010).

essays

Tests and test

scores projects

Self and peer

assessment

Journals and

reflections

Poetry and

prose

Attributes of portfolios

Gottlieb (1995) suggested a developmental scheme for

considering the nature and purpose of portfolios, using

the acronym CRADLE to designate six possible

attributes of a portfolio:

• Collecting

• Reflecting

• Assessing

• Documenting

• Linking

• Evaluating

An expression of students’ lives and attitudes

Evaluating quality and development over time

Thinking about experience and activities

Demonstrating students’ achievement

Connecting students and teachers with parent, community and peers.

Generating responsible outcome

Types of Portfolios

Process portfolios

• Used to illustrate steps in a

process, and continual

growth

• Used to share experiences

Product portfolios

• Used to document or

provide evidence of

completion

• Used to demonstrate

competence or mastery

Why Bother!

Portfolios are messy

proponents of portfolios suggest two

reasons for their use:

• The first reason reflects dissatisfaction with the traditional

grading systems. test scores tell us almost nothing about

what a student has learned or is able to do.

• Second, it is argued that a well-designed portfolio system,

which requires students to participate in the selection

process and to think about their work, can accomplish

several important purposes : it can motivate students; it can

provide explicit examples to parents, teachers, and others

of what students know and are able to do; it allows students

to chart their growth over time and to self-assess their

progress; and, it encourages students to engage in self-

reflection.

The Portfolio Assessment Process

1- State objectives clearly

2- Give guidelines on what goes in

ideas, sketches, best work

Student participation in the selection process is critical. Hamp,

Lyones and Condon(2000) “suggested advantages for student

control of portfolio contents, but teacher guidance will keep

students on target with curricular objectives “ ( Brown,2004,p.257).

The Portfolio Assessment Process

3- Communicate assessment criteria to students

Assessment of portfolios may include a combination

of self-assessment, teacher assessment of individual

items, and peer – assessment.

“ When students are made part of the evaluation they

receive the power that goes with that specialized

knowledge- power to recognize strong performance,

power to identify problems in weak performance, and

power to use criteria to change and improve

performance” (Judith, Arter,Spandel,p.37)

4-Designate time :

For selecting student work and time for review

and conference

5- Passing Portfolios on. The final decision item

has to do with what is done with portfolios at the

end of a semester or school year.

Keeping them over

a long period of time.

turned over to students.

The Portfolio Assessment Process

Advantages of portfolios

Enhance critical thinking and enlarge the view of

what’s learned

Fosters student-teacher interaction

Assesses what students can do

and not just what they know

Engages students actively

Integrate learning and assessment

Challenges

• Reliability: It can be quite difficult to establish scoring

systems that are reliable over raters or time.

• Time: The use of portfolios for assessment is time

consuming in terms of hours needed to produce the

product and time to develop a workable scoring system.

• Depth, not breadth: Portfolio assessment offers the

opportunity for depth but not breadth with regard to

academic material covered.

• Fairness: It may be difficult for the evaluator to control

outside influences on the product such as parental

assistance and access to resources like computers.

ISSUES RELATED TO PORTFOLIO

ASSESSMENT

Vavrus 1990 , said that “If portfolios are to be evaluated, the

evaluation standards should be established before the

portfolio system is established” (p. 53).

“Portfolio assessment in second language is continuous and

formative because it provides an elaborated system of scoring

that reflects the diversity and variation of language skills in

different situations and purposes. ”( Davis,2005)

What to Grade ?

• Nothing :some teachers choose not to grade the

portfolio because they have already assigned

grades to the contents selected for inclusion:

• Completion: Some portfolios are graded simply

on whether or not the portfolio was completed.

• Everything: Other teachers evaluate the entire

package: the selected samples of student work as

well as the reflection, organization and

presentation of the portfolio.

•How to Grade/Evaluate?

• Develop an appropriate scoring system. this is

best done through the use of a rubric.

Validity

“ Validity is the extent to which the assessment measures what it

purports to measure. In the context of portfolio assessment,

validity is the extent to which the portfolio assesses the

curriculum learning outcomes”(Davis,2005,p.251).

Validity can be enhanced , If students understand the goal of

their portfolios, such as the content and evaluation criteria,

before using the portfolio assessment in the classroom.

Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency and accuracy of the assessment

tool to measure students' performance. Portfolios are only effective if

you establish a fair and consistent way of scoring, recording, and

grading them. The key to developing a reliable portfolio is to

establish clear and detailed criteria

• Brown, D. (2004) Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New York:

Pearson Longman.

• Damiani, B. PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT IN THE CLASSROOM , Indiana University of

Pennsylvania

• Arter, J. A., & Spandel, V. (1992). Using portfolios of student work in instruction and

assessment. Educational measurement: Issues and practice, 11(1), 36-44.

• Baume, David, and Mantz Yorke. "The reliability of assessment by portfolio on a course to

develop and accredit teachers in higher education." Studies in Higher Education 27.1

(2002): 7-25.

• Davis, M. H., & Ponnamperuma, G. G. (2005). Portfolio assessment. Journal of Veterinary

Medical Education, 32(3), 279-284.

• Wisconsin Education Association Council, Performance Assessment, Education Issues

Series, May 1996. Used with permission.

THANK YOU !