22 October 2008

NCLB Testing vs Portfolios

An Education Week article says Obama, doesn't want to dump the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) testing, but wants to reform it and include alternative testing, such as "Portfolios". If you are like me, you are asking, what is a portfolio? Well this is their description:
...portfolios ..and other forms of assessments that may be a little bit more expensive ...are allowing us to make sure children are getting the proper analytic kinds of tools. ...we're talking about tests that require children to assess their entire year ... to put together through writing and through speaking...we're looking at language skills as well as writing skills to get a sense of how well they've learned their lessons.

5 comments:

Randy Simes said...

Seems reasonable enough at first glance. You made several points about where Obama and Clinton stand on the issue. Where does McCain stand on this, or is he simply for the status quo in terms of NCLB?

CityKin said...

McCain seems to be for the keeping NCLB and adding more choice.

See here and here.

Julie said...

Portfolios allow students to show how they learned and how they apply their learning, and not just "studying for the test" and thus "teaching to the test". It allows teachers to be more creative, and allows students to be creative, too. They ARE a bitch to grade, but I think it's worth it. Real life isn't made out of colored-in scantron bubbles.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't a portfolio be drawn from the work/projects a student is regularly doing in class already rather than being some "other" assessment? Wouldn't this just add "working for the portfolio" to "teaching to the test" as distractions to effective classrooms?

CityKin said...

I'm definitely for some kinds of standards, but I do have growing concerns about "teaching to a test". My concerns are growing as I witness my son's teachers and their emphasis on rote items that are obviously test specific.