Communicating Information About Students
The use of portfolio assessment allows several types of information about each child to be communicated to the parents and family. This information includes a complete picture of the child's potential in academic and social domains, and the extent to which the child's growth and performance at school measures up to that potential. Also, portfolios can provide approximate information about the child's growth in relation to developmental benchmarks and peers in the school (Anderson & Pavan, 1993).
A variety of portfolio tools can be used to accomplish these goals. A complete picture of the child can be given through the use of work samples, student reflection, rubrics, goal setting, dispositions, videotapes, and teacher observation and analysis of student work. Information about how the child's growth and development relates to benchmarks and peers also can be achieved by using learning descriptions.
