Operationalizing Learning Portfolios

Abstract

Reform in assessment is a dominant theme appearing in the professional literature today. Yet, most of this writing is conceptual, with few studies actually investigating viable assessment methods and procedures. This study describes the results from an alternative assessment in reading. Four groups of students (from special education, Chapter I, low achieving regular education, and regular education) in an entire fourth-grade class completed a silent reading-written retell in the fall and again in the spring. While many educators are advocating change in our assessment practices, the results highlight the many unanswered questions that need to be addressed in implementing such changes. Issues of format, administration, and scoring all need to be resolved. Although the findings are generally consistent with expected results (i.e., special education students may perform the lowest, students improve over time), the amount of variation among students is also quite great.