"2.2 slightly "To have any meaningful portfolio,
it should become a means of communication among educational
stakeholders
[as well as ] a tool of "authentic" learning assessment.",
recognizing that
each tool has weaknesses as well as strengths."
Bill, my concern is if any assessment can do both
simultaneously. Merely by using it as communication among
various stockholders makes it unauthentic. When I was student
teaching we tested the children with a mock standardized test
with the intent of using the results to impact teaching. The
results were supposable for the teachers as well as students to
reflect and act on their teaching/learning. Teacher committee's
were set up to use the assessment as tool to impact learning
when it was brought to the teacher's attention that the
Superintendent wanted the results to compare various schools
within the district. Well, as you can imagine the committees
stopped functioning and the tests were no longer used as a tool
to affect the teaching/learning process.
Nate