Portfolio

In the field of education, a portfolio is a collection of a student's work that documents achievement in one or more areas. “Best works” portfolios demonstrate mastery or summary achievement. Alternatively, portfolios may serve to show progress or a range of accomplishment, including strengths and weaknesses. Portfolios and portfolio entries may be unassessed or may be assessed separately and may involve self-, peer, and teacher evaluations and assessments by others. The criteria for evaluating student work may be explicit or intuitive, external or negotiated, preordinate or emergent. Because of the opportunity to include many examples of work over time, portfolios as an assessment technique offer an unparalleled means of enhancing the validity of inferences of student achievement and of displaying student growth.