Five years ago, we began developing and using teacher portfolios at Southern Lehigh Middle School in Center Valley, Penn. Today, we’re convinced that teacher portfolios can be powerful tools for gathering information about teacher practice and evaluating the progress being made toward goals set by our building, our district, and our profession.
The purposeful and careful documentation of what teachers are doing in school encourages teachers to conduct ongoing self-evaluation and reflection, and provides them with information to guide future self-improvement and professional development. Portfolios also help teachers conduct meaningful peer evaluation, and can help a school’s principal function as an education partner with teachers, not just as a judge or critic of their practice.
Portfolios also capture the complexities of teaching, providing a flexible and versatile set of assessments for evaluators. And while they can’t replace traditional methods of evaluation such as teacher tests, student grade profiles, and standardized test data, portfolios also can help educators monitor student achievement.
The portfolio process
Southern Lehigh Middle School teachers develop and implement their teacher portfolios in five sections:
1. Teachers begin by articulating their goals for the year, including personal/professional goals and those set by the school and the district. Examples might include incorporating technology in instruction, using alternative assessments, practicing inclusion, or implementing a particular initiative such as Dimensions of Learning (Marzano, 1992). Each teacher meets with the principal to establish clear, concrete goals for the year.
2. Teachers then list ways they can implement their goals. Questions teachers consider in creating this list include: What are the specific tasks planned to meet those goals? How will the goal be incorporated in the teaching? What changes will be made in instruction to incorporate the goal? What will change for students, parents, and colleagues?
The implementation statements usually begin with "I will" or "the students will." For example, statements for the goal of "integrating technology in the classroom" might include "I will use the computer to create my teacher-made materials," or "Students will use the computer, and such related tools as the Internet and CD-ROMs, to conduct research."
3. Teachers keep a log their professional development experiences during the year. The log includes initial training provided by the district as well as subsequent development activities, such as professional reading or research, peer observations, or observation of model programs.
4. This section includes the material teachers select as samples or evidence of their work. The contents of this section need to reflect a "purposeful collection of evidence," not every test, worksheet, or piece of student work that crosses a teacher’s desk. Teachers choose items that they are particularly proud of, or those that they believe exhibit growth. Examples can include teacher-created tests or alternative assessments, worksheets, study guides, lesson plans, student work, test results, communications from students or parents, photographs or videotapes, anecdotal records, or classroom observation reports.
At the start of the process, teachers and the principal must reach a clear understanding about the evidence to be included in a portfolio. If limits aren’t placed on the types and amounts of material to be included, portfolios may become overwhelmingly large and time consuming for both teachers and evaluators.
5. The final section of the teacher portfolio at Southern Lehigh Middle School is the teacher’s own reflections on the previous sections. Here teachers can explain why they included certain items in their portfolios, and how they feel about them. Teachers can explain why they feel the examples illustrate their progress toward the stated goal, or explain the concerns raised by the example and reflect in writing on possible ways to improve their practice. They also may request specific assistance from the principal, such as opportunities for follow-up, additional training, or peer observation.
Here’s an example of how we use portfolios to help teachers reach specific goals: When the school board invested in technology a few years ago, administrators and teachers agreed that goals for the upcoming year should include helping teachers master the new technology, increased use of technology by teachers and students, and integrating technology into instruction. Before our staff development for technology, teachers’ technology skills were measured. The district offered computer and technology courses during the summer, after school, and through independent study.
That year, teacher portfolios contained numerous items reflecting the technology goals. Teachers included the dates and titles of computer courses plus examples of their progress, such as spreadsheets they had developed for recording and calculating student grades. Portfolios also included examples of projects in which students used spreadsheets for charting and graphing data.
Tests at the end of the school year indicated significant improvements in teachers’ skills. The portfolios also provided a foundation for teacher consultations with adminstrators, peer review, and self-reflection.
Sometimes, portfolios themselves can become instructional tools. Sixth grade teacher Carol Mickley, for example, included a student writing portfolio in her teacher portfolio as evidence of her work on alternative student assessment. "When I introduced the concept of the writing portfolio to my class, I showed them my teacher portfolio as an example," she noted.
Working with the principal
For purposes of ongoing evaluation, teachers submit their portfolios to the principal mid-year. At that time, teachers are asked three questions:
- What is working in your portfolio development process and achievement of goals?
- Where are you having difficulty?
- How can your supervisor assist?
This reflection provides the basis for conferences between teachers and their supervisors, as well as conversations between teachers and their peers.
For example, during a mid-year conference last year, a science teacher said he was having difficulty with alternative assessments. The teacher and principal reviewed specific assessments used in class, which were included in the teacher’s portfolio, and together they reworked the assessments to suit a wider range of student learning styles. They also reviewed assessments from another teacher’s portfolio as positive examples, and followed up the conference with plans for a peer observation between the two teachers.
The tone and structure of these conferences are very important. When a principal is viewed as a critic who judges the teacher’s performance, instead of a facilitator, evaluations tend to concentrate on surface issues (Nolan & Francis, 1992). If, however, "the supervisor relinquishes the role of critic to assume the role of co-creator of knowledge about learning and teaching, the teacher is more willing to grant the supervisor access" (ibid, p. 53). When the teacher is viewed as a learner or a partner in a collaborative process, the task of gathering useful data changes dramatically. The teacher doesn’t feel the need to defend everything he or she has done. Instead, the teacher assumes responsibility for collecting data and then meets with the supervisor to jointly interpret the meaning of the data.
At year’s end, teachers are asked follow-up questions to provide the basis for further reflection:
- What impact has the goal had on student learning?
- What adaptations or modification need to be made for next year?
- What are your professional development needs?
This reflection allows us to examine our strengths, identify our challenges, and make plans to ensure effective professional development in the future.
Does it help?
While using teacher portfolios at Southern Lehigh Middle School is voluntary, nearly 100% of the teachers use them every year. We believe this is because teachers have found portfolios to be efficient tools for documenting and evaluating their progress toward district and building initiatives. (While portfolios are optional, working toward the goals is not.) Portfolio development varies from teacher to teacher, just as instruction does. Some teachers merely provide examples of their work and student work, along with limited reflection. Others take great care in portfolio design and presentation.
Of course, it’s always difficult to link specific professional development efforts to improvement in student achievement. Southern Lehigh Middle School does have quantitative data indicating recent improvements in student achievement: Standardized test scores are well above average, and state assessment scores have increased during the past four years. Grade distributions, student attendance, and discipline data indicate similar rates of success and improvement.
Perhaps the greatest indicator of success has been our designation as a 1997-98 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The site visitor who evaluated our school reviewed at least 15 teacher portfolios, commenting: "Teachers have really stretched themselves, setting goals that require a great deal of time and effort. The faculty is willing to try new ideas, reflect on their effectiveness, and continue to strive for excellence." We believe that teacher portfolios play a critical role in that process.
References
Berry, D., Kisch, J., Ryan, C., & Uphoff, J. (1991, April). The process and product of portfolio construction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
Campbell, D. M., Cignetti, P. B., Melenyzer, B. J., Nettles, D. H., Wyman, R. M. (1997). How to develop a professional portfolio: A manual for teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Edgerton, R., Hutchings, P. & Quinlan, K. (1991). The teaching portfolio: Capturing the scholarship in teaching. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
Marzano, R. (1992). A different kind of classroom: Teaching with dimensions of learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Nolan, J. & Francis, P. (1992). Changing perspectives in curriculum and instruction. In C. D. Glickman (Ed.), Supervision in transition: 1992 ASCD yearbook (pp. 7-29). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Rogers, S. E. & Danielson, K. E. (1996). Teacher portfolios: Literacy artifacts and themes. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Seldin, P. & Annis, L. (1990). The teaching portfolio. Journal of Staff, Program and Organizational Development, 8(4), 325-332.
Wheeler, P. H. (1993). Using portfolios to assess teacher performance. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 364 967.
Wolf, K. (1991). The schoolteacher’s portfolio: Issues in design, implementation, and evaluation. Phi Delta Kappan, 73(2) , 129-36.
Wolf, K. (1996). Developing an effective teaching portfolio. Educational Leadership, 53(6), 34 37. n
Lisa Andrejko is principal of Southern Lehigh Middle School and a doctoral candidate at Lehigh University whose dissertation topic is teacher portfolios. She can be reached at Southern Lehigh Middle School, 3715 Preston Lane, Center Valley, PA 18034, (610) 282-3700, fax (610) 282 2963, e-mail: andrejko@ptd.net.
Portfolios have gained much attention recently, chiefly for their uses in assessing student learning. But educators in a variety of settings have used portfolios for many years, often as tools for assessing teachers as well as students.
The university world uses the professional "dossier" for tenure decisions and job search purposes. Several states, educational agencies, teacher education programs, and school districts use teacher portfolios in preservice training, teacher employment, and self-evaluation. Agencies such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards are using portfolios as criteria for professional certification, and many other agencies are field-testing their use. Connecticut, Oregon, and Delaware have used portfolios when licensing new teachers. Tennessee and Arizona use them for determining teachers’ placement career ladders. Texas and Colorado use them when certifying master teachers (Wolf, 1996).
There are several advantages to using teacher portfolios for assessment. Edgerton, Hutchings, and Quinlan (1991) cite four good reasons:
A peek into the toolkit
Portfolios can include many different types of material. They reflect many tasks of teaching, providing evidence of several "domains" (Wheeler, 1993). They can include evidence or artifacts (Campbell, Cignetti, Melenyzer, Nettles, & Wyman, 1997) not readily available through other assessment and evaluation approaches, such as letters from peers or parents, samples of student work, awards, or publications. In addition, a portfolio can house a staff development log, materials prepared by teachers, exams, quizzes, alternative assessment information, handouts, and course or class outlines. Reviewing a portfolio can thus provide great insight into a particular teacher’s toolkit, and how those tools are used.
Berry, Kisch, Ryan, & Uphoff (1991) found that keeping portfolios helped teachers develop classroom management skills, student-specific pedagogy, command of the subject matter, and increased professional responsibility. What’s more, Rogers and Danielson (1996) insist that portfolios for students can be used more effectively if teachers have firsthand experience documenting themselves as readers and writers.
Things to watch out for
Despite the many advantages of portfolios, there are also considerations related to their implementation, content, and interpretation. "Portfolios are messy to construct, cumbersome to store, difficult to score, and vulnerable to misrepresentation (Wolf, 1991. p. 129)." They can also be time-consuming if not implemented in a productive, selective manner.
The evaluation of portfolios can be influenced by the quality of the presentation, which can detract from evaluations of content. Some teachers simply know how to package materials and market themselves better than others. There’s also a chance that some items in a portfolio may not be representative of the teacher’s work, especially if only "best examples" are required.
However, the time a teacher spends preparing and presenting a portfolio may reflect of the attention to detail they bring to the classroom as well. Seldin and Annis (1990) found that faculty members in one study perceived their portfolios to be accurate representations of their teaching. Furthermore, they found that an attractively presented portfolio can’t simply "gloss over" terrible teaching. In other words, a portfolio can’t be used to document effective teaching if the evidence is just not there.
For Further Reading
- Differentiated supervision by A. Glatthorn. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997.
- The teacher’s portfolio: Fostering and documenting professional development by A. Glatthorn. Rockport, MA: ProActive Publications, 1996.
- "On a new direction for teacher evaluation: A conversation with Tom McGreal.’’ Educational Leadership, 53(6) 30-33. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996.
- A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983.
- "A union of insufficiencies: Strategies for teacher assessment in a time of educational reform,’’ by L. Shulman. Educational Leadership, 46(3), 36-41.
- Portfolios for teacher education: A component of reflective teacher education by L. Shulman. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April 1992.
- "Teaching to the (authentic) test,’’ by G. Wiggins. Educational Leadership 46(7), 41-47.
- Teaching portfolios: Synthesis of the research and annotated bibliography by K. Wolf. ERIC Document Reproduction Services ED 343 890, 1991.
