The Study
Student assessment beyond multiple-choice testing is an issue that continues to gain attention. In this article, Mark Reckase, professor in the Department of Counseling, Edudcational Pscychology and Special Education, details a project by American College Testing (ACT) to create a national portfolio assessment tool that can be used at high schools across the country. He also reports findings of teachers who used the ACT Portfolio System.

The Findings
Reckase points out that some in education have leveled much criticism at multiple-choice assessment. Such tests, Reckase said, are not suited to support the instructional process. They are simply measurement tools. It was the desire to support instruction through assessment that led ACT to begin developing in 1993 the Portfolio Assessment System. The design and field testing of the portfolio assessment involved teachers from seven U.S. high schools, ACT staff, and three consultants. The design team limited its efforts to language arts, mathematics, and science. The assessment spanned grades 9 through 12. Reckase writes that the design team first defined a portfolio as "a purposeful collection of student work that tells the story of the student¹s effort, progress, or achievement in given areas." A key concept of the assessment design was a general description of the work to be placed in the portfolio called a work sample description. In science, for example, a work sample description would require a student to "design a study to test a hypothesis or solve a problem." Ten work sample descriptions were required in science, 12 in mathematics, and 13 in language arts as part of the portfolio. The portfolio also included a number of other material, including sample class assignments, and criteria for evaluating the material submitted. Reckase also discusses the ways that the portfolio can support the educational processes at urban schools. He points out that the work sample descriptions offer a number of task formats to allow a variety of representations and strategies to be used to produce a response. "This variation," Reckase writes, "helps insure that the resources available to students within the classroom are not a barrier to successful completion of a particular work sample description." Reckase also makes clear that the project sought to develop work sample descriptions and scoring procedures that focus on the quality of student work, rather than resources the students has available.

What It Means to You
Does this type of alternative assessment have a place in your school district? Does the type of assessment your district currently conducts support instruction?

More Information
Reckase, Mark D. (1999). Advances in portfolio assessment with applications to urban school populations. Measuring up: Challenges minorities face in educational assessment. Boston: Kluwer, 71-95.

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