Use of Criteria in Assessing Teaching Portfolios: Judgemental practices in summative evaluation

Abstract

How is the quality of teaching portfolios being assessed in summative assessment contexts? This question is of special importance in the growing debate on standards and criteria in assessment. In our study we looked for contexts in which portfolios are used for summative assessment purposes and gauge the issues raised by assessors with respect to grading and judging performance. We examine the appraisal of these portfolios by looking at the explicitness of guidelines/instructions/framework used by 35 portfolio assessors in examining their actual evaluations of the teaching portfolios in programs of teacher education for English as a Second Language. The study utilises different tools to gauge the process of raising standards and appraisal of portfolios. Using a questionnaire, conceptions of portfolio standards and criteria use were collected and commented upon by selected interviews to elaborate the understanding of the quantitative data. The findings were mounted up into a possible typology for clarification and improvement of actual assessment practices of portfolios. In this way transparency about how criteria are being deployed was attempted.