Portfolio Assessment in Social Studies

Evans, Mark, Hawes, Reg H., Shain,& Christine. (1999). Does Portfolio Assessment Have A Place in History and Social Studies Programs? Canadian Social Studies, North York: Vol. 34(1).

This article outlines the appeal of portfolio assessment in a social studies class. It also describes three approaches of portfolio assessment that can be used in social studies and history programs. Lastly, this article explores some of the challenges that portfolios can have in the classroom and how teachers have responded to these challenges.

A portfolio is a collection of student work gathered over a period of time. It demonstrates the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in a given area. This involves student participation in the selection of portfolio content and the form it might take, clear guidelines for the selection of entries, explicit criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student reflection. This article suggests that portfolio assessment creates a deeper, more complex, and multi-dimensional aspect of student learning.

This article does an excellent job of defining portfolio assessment. Additionally, it does a good job of demonstrating how portfolios can be used in a social studies setting and the benefits that can be derived from the use of this tool. Unfortunately the challenges section is a little weak, as it skips over many of the hardships teachers can face and instead tries to fix those problems with simple sounding solutions (that are not that simple). All in all though, this article does a good job of promoting portfolio assessment for the social studies classroom and I encourage you to consider the use of portfolio’s in your classroom. Read this article, talk to your assessment teacher, or talk to your practicum teacher about what works and what doesn’t.