Hello colleagues, There has been quite a lot of discussion on LINCS lately about assessing college and career readiness through alternative forms of assessment such as portfolios --that may also feature accumulating "badges"-- to illustrate student performance. Some members may be interested in this recent article in the Hechinger Report about California's new way of ranking high school students' performance. Standardized tests will still count, but student portfolios will add substantive details and offer a more complete picture of a student's college and career readiness.
The opening anecdote about a student presenting his portfolio to a review committee and having to defend it was pretty interesting!
The article raises the tricky issue of how to ensure portfolios are a reliable indication of college and career readiness.
Cheers, Susan Finn MIller
Moderator, Assessment CoP