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When students work on projects--a science experiment, a report on the civil rights
movement, an original music composition, or a model of the rain forest--they have a unique
opportunity to exhibit skills and understanding in many areas and through a variety of
media. At the same time, these projects can be difficult to assess because student
performances are complex and multi-dimensional. When the school year is organized around a
series of projects, assessment becomes even more challenging.
The APPLE (Assessing Projects and Portfolios for LEarning) Project was a research and development effort focused on answering three key questions: 1) What are effective ways of assessing student performances and project work? 2) How can a child's work on a series of projects be documented and assessed fairly? 3) What is required to implement portfolio assessment in a school so that it will "take root" and serve as an ongoing tool for the evaluation of programs as well as children? Portfolios offer an intriguing solution to many of the difficulties inherent in the task of evaluating projects. They enable teachers to use a variety of media to capture different aspects of student performance for later review and assessment. For example, student contributions to a science exhibit could be documented in the following ways: with photographs of the exhibit; journal entries explaining how the work was initiated, developed, and completed; and video or audio tapes of a student presentation, group discussion, critique session, or peer collaboration. These last activities yield highly informative insights into student self-assessment, peer assessment, reflection, and process. Beginning in 1988, the APPLE team investigated the use and implementation of portfolio assessment, largely in relation to project-based curricula, in five elementary and middle schools. In addition, the group documented portfolio approaches in nearly a dozen other schools. To make the findings available to other researchers and educators, APPLE created a library of portfolios from more than twenty different classrooms that was used by teachers from all over New England. APPLE also established a forum so that teachers and administrators could share ideas about portfolio assessment. This forum, the New England Regional Assessment Network (NERAN), had semi-annual meetings and a newsletter, "Network News," which was published twice a year. APPLE also provided support and guidance for schools and teachers who were in the process of adopting portfolio assessment. Methods included interviews and consultations with individual teachers about portfolio implementation; classroom visits; workshops and meetings with school staffs; and interviews with students to review and discuss their portfolio work.
Selected readingsMany of these materials can be purchased through Project Zero's eBookstore. Gardner, H. (1991). Assessment in context: The alternative to standardized testing. In B. Gifford and M.C. O'Connor (Eds.), Changing assessments: Alternative views of aptitude, achievement, and instruction (pp. 239-252). Boston: Kluwer Publishers. Olson, L. (1988, January 27). Children flourish here: Eight teachers and a theory changed a school world. Education Week, pp. 1, 18-19. Seidel, S. (1991). Collaborative assessment conferences for the consideration of project work. Working paper. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Project Zero. Seidel, S. (1991). Five phases in the implementation of portfolio assessment in classrooms, schools and school districts. Working paper. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Project Zero. Seidel, S., Walters, J., Kirby, E., Olff, N., Powell, K., & Veenema, S. (1997). Portfolio Practices: Thinking through the assessment of children's work. Washington, D.C.: NEA Professional Library. Walters, J. (1991). Five dimensions of portfolio assessment. Working paper. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Project Zero. Walters, J., Seidel, S., & Gardner, H. (1994). Children as reflective practitioners: Bringing metacognition to the classroom. In C. Collins-Block and J. Mangieri (Eds.), Creating powerful thinking in teachers and students: Diverse perspectives. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace. |
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