Portfolios
School & District Management
Opinion
Let's Dump the Obsession With Standardized Testing
Digital portfolios and student, faculty, and family surveys to gauge school culture are more robust ways to measure school effectiveness.
English-Language Learners
Opinion
Assessment Strategies for English-Language Learners
Four educators share practical assessment strategies to support English-language learners.
Teaching
Opinion
Instead of Standardized Testing, Consider Portfolio Assessment
Since learning is so nuanced, so too should be the means in which we assess it. Let's offer students the opportunity to be seen as whole people who can demonstrate different skills and knowledge in a plethora of ways over a period of time.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Three Powerful Examples of School Districts Using Capstones and Portfolios
Colorado's guidelines for graduation offer a menu of options including performance-based demonstrations of college and career readiness such as portfolios and capstone projects.
Assessment
Video
K-12 Performance Assessment Terms Explained
Interest is growing in assessing students’ learning by having them show what they can do with what they know. But educators often disagree about what terms like performance assessment and project-based learning really mean in the classroom. In an effort to clear up some of the confusion, Education Week writers developed definitions for six performance-assessment related terms, including proficiency-based learning, project-based learning, standards-based grading, and portfolios. See the results in this animated glossary.
Personalized Learning
Opinion
The Gift of Portfolio Defense: A Parent's Perspective
In my work, I wholeheartedly believe in the power and efficacy of a portfolio defense model, and am genuinely excited to share it with audiences of educators, funders, and thought leaders. But until I had one of my own children attend an Envision school and witnessed his 12th grade defense presentation, my rallying cry for portfolio defense was professional, not personal.
Assessment
Ed. Dept. Policing ESSA Rules on Portfolio Assessments for Students With Disabilities
The Every Student Succeeds Act says that portfolios, or collections of student work, can only be part of how a student is assessed for accountability purposes.
Assessment
Opinion
Portfolio Assessment: Virtues, Vices, and Examples
Portfolios can be powerful forms of assessment, but they must be done right to reap their benefits.
Personalized Learning
Opinion
The Virtues and Vices of Portfolio Assessment
A portfolio lends itself naturally to assessment, whose aim is to collect evidence to answer a question about learning or performance.
Education
Opinion
To Build Critical Thinking Skills, Students Need a Platform
Student portfolios help teach students the essential habit of independent thinking.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
A Letter to My Former Teachers: Reflections and Optimism
An experience in learning about Envisions' portfolio defense made on teacher realize how much she learned from her teachers.
Teaching
Opinion
Preparing Students for Portfolio Defense to Build Agency
At Envision schools, strong relationships, a college-going culture, and project-based learning prepare students for their culminating portfolio defense, which builds their agency.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Student Agency: The Equity Challenge of Our Day
Envision schools' portfolio defense model empowers students to change their lives and makes a difference for low-income students of color.
Student Well-Being
Opinion
Let's Replace Transcripts With Portfolios
As education begins to change and we reconsider how we assess students, we can't continue to do what is easiest for institutions at the expense of what is best for students. Testing and transcripts have never been very helpful to many students. They end up being accurate for only a very small percentage of kids. Using portfolios would be a far more beneficial way to show what kids know.