At a recent Professional Development session focused on Assessment in Mathematics the presenter referred to Assessment Portfolios as passé. Slightly offended, I have reflected on my use of these and pondered changes for the future.

I have utilised Assessment Portfolios since being inspired by a Windows on Practice document, ‘Work Assessment Books: A Learning and Assessment Strategy’ (Leaker,1991). Over the years these documents have changed considerably, in appearance, organisation and in terms of the audience and purpose. I remember one year our district used these as a way of passing information on from the primary to the secondary school context. Great in theory – but in practice I am not sure whether secondary teachers had time to refer to Portfolios of work for each student.

The main intended audiences for these Portfolios have varied from parents, subsequent teachers, the student and myself, and the purposes have been to show the learning journey, highlight work students are particularly proud of and to communicate how students are going in all areas of the curriculum. At one stage I would carefully section an exercise book into each of the curriculum areas, for each student.

Now-a-days my main purpose for Assessment Portfolios is an organisational tool for students and myself (the main audiences) to manage and store evidence of learning. Currently I use a display folder and purchase inserts so we can add pages as needed. The display books hold personal feedback, examples of formative and summative assessment samples, as well as reference sheets such as Assignment details and criteria for success rubrics. I have also found the folders a useful way to store various graphic organisers and sheets that we use during mental routines, as recommended by Ann Baker.

With the advent of access to digital media I have experimented with class and students blogs, moving toward the idea of e-portfolios. Balancing the need for privacy with the many benefits of sharing learning with a wider audience, has impacted on my current practice. At the moment the on-line blogs reflect students’ learning using a range of media, goal setting and personal reflections, including peer, parental and teacher feedback on their work. The Assessment Portfolios contain the more personalised feedback on learning. I have found both the blogs and Portfolios useful to refer to during report writing time.

I know that many teachers are now using on-line organisational tools such as Evernote to store assessment details. In theory this would be so much more efficient and allow more scope for adding photos, videos and audio recordings. Currently I am conscious of not putting individual photos and names on the public blog to protect students’ privacy. Furthermore, being able to access notes anywhere, anytime and share folders with others would be very convenient. Problems in accessing Evernote at my work site has inhibited this development, but hopefully we can work a way around this issue soon.