Education Law

Snapshot or portfolio?

In education circles, it is common knowledge that the pendulum is always swinging.  What was popular ten years ago is passé, but what was popular 20 years ago may be on its way back into fashion.  In the current “accountability age,” states and the federal government have dictated that snapshot testing, where one test on one day determine mastery of a subject, is the most effective way to measure a student’s knowledge (and in many cases, a teacher’s effectiveness).  Virginia is swinging the pendulum back a ways, and looking at grading portfolios for some students.

Today’s Washington Post has a story about Virginia teachers taking over the Dulles Expo Center (other recent  uses include The Big Flea (market), Home and Garden Expo, and Super Pet Expo) where they gathered to grade more than 30,000 student portfolios for students with disabilities or beginning English skills.  Envision the largest big-box store you’ve ever seen, line it up with tables and chairs, and fill it with coffee-cup-carrying teachers ready to assess their [behinds] off.  The benefits of portfolios are still being argued.  Many teachers and administrators like the fact that students are looked at over the course of the year, and information can be inserted into the portfolio in November and again in March, to show progress, rather than the snapshot approach of a high stakes test.  But the pass rate is often much higher in portfolios, making skeptics wonder if it’s an accurate assessment.  According the the Post, students with portfolio grading passed 94 percent of the time in reading, while the traditional “bubble” method passed just 79 percent of the time in Fairfax County. 

The debate will likely roll on.  For school board members, it gives a district more local control, but it also adds hours and hours of prep time for teachers and school staff, which translates into more money being spent on the overhead costs of portfolio-style testing.  To do this statewide, especially in large and urban districts, would take a massive amount of time and energy.  But if it’s a more accurate assessment and demonstrates what a student is accomplishing over a period of an entire school year instead of just one day in May or June, is it worth it?

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on June 09, 2009 (boomark / email).