Linking Large-Scale Testing and Classroom Portfolio Assessments of Student Writing

Abstract

In this article, I explore how portfolio assessment in the area of writing can provide new links between large-scale testing and classroom assessment. After analyzing varied types of large-scale testing in writing-including multiple-choice tests and tests that include writing samples produced in testing settings - I describe several portfolio programs at work: one in the Pittsburgh school district, Arts PROPEL; a large-scale, classroom-centered portfolio effort for elementary students in England, The Primary Language Record (1988); a state-level portfolio assessment from Vermont for Grades 4 and 11; and a large-scale national examination for completion of secondary school in Great Britain, the General Certificate of Secondary Education. These examples show how portfolio assessment could link large-scale testing and instructional assessment. However, the examples also show that classroom-based portfolios were more likely to be successful and lasting than portfolios used for large-scale testing. I argue that if testing and assessment in writing are to be linked, portfolios will need to gain a stronger foothold in large-scale testing, something that will happen only when testers, teachers, and policymakers begin to work together reciprocally.