The Consequences of Portfolio Assessment: A Case Study

This article contains findings from a yearlong case study of a quasi-experiment of a language arts portfolio assessment system in a northern California middle school. Students in the alternative assessment classrooms were issued report card grades determined by an external examination committee made up of local English teachers who applied a locally developed rubric to student portfolios. In contrast. students in the customary assessment classrooms were issued report card grades determined by individual classroom teachers. Measures of reading achievement, writing achievement, and motivational goal orientation examined the effects of placement in 1 or the other assessment condition. A significant effect on reading achievement favored the alternative assessment students. No significant effect on writing achievement was found. Students in the alternative assessment classrooms registered significantly higher levels of learning-goal orientation than did students in the customary classrooms, but there were no d...