“What gets measured is what gets done.”

I hear this mantra often in the educational world. While some people might read it and sigh, thinking about all the testing our kids have to go through, I see it differently.

Why accept the current frame, that assessment is a tool merely for evaluation? What if assessment were a process that is fulfilling for students and teachers instead of draining?

How might we rethink “What gets measured is what gets done,” and shift our focus toward documenting students’ potential instead of merely passing a test?

One approach I find effective for this work is digital portfolio assessment.

• Digital portfolios are dynamic, digital collections of authentic information from different media, in many forms, and with multiple purposes.
• Using digital tools, teachers and students capture, curate, and celebrate learning in school.
• Audio, video, images, and text are all considered “data” that can be used in determining the progress a student is making toward important goals.
• Original, multimedia creations can serve as performance tasks for a summative assessment.
• Through digital portfolio assessment, we can better educate the whole child instead of relying only on a number or level to inform our instruction.

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Digital Portfolios. LINK

At Trillium Charter School in Portland, teacher Rob Van Nood uses interactive social media, among other technology tools, to help students compile digital portfolios of their work.

They can

- take pictures,

- attach sound files,

- use maps to pinpoint locations,

- attach typed notes, or

- link to sections of Web pages, and

- record reflections about their work.

Because these portfolios exist online, they can be added to constantly. They also incorporate different types of media that show off different skill sets and require students to interpret and apply material in new ways. They foster an ongoing discussion because they are easily accessible, enabling parents, teachers, and other students to comment frequently on each other’s work. These portfolios, made possible by one teacher’s innovative use of existing technology, have several benefits.

• They can be maintained indefinitely and are better at showing student’s growth over time than a snapshot from one exam or time period.
• They allow for a deeper and more nuanced understanding of students’ skills and capabilities.
• They help develop students’ technological skills and encourage parent-teacher-student discussion much more than a simple report card might.

Experts say this method of showcasing students’ work

• “increases student engagement;
• promotes a continuing conversation about learning between teachers, parents and students; and
• extends academic lessons beyond school walls” (Ash, 2011b, p. 42). Teacher Van Nood added, “The kids are motivated knowing that their work is being documented” (Ash, 2011b, p. 42).

Thus, through these portfolios, students see more value in their classwork. Knowing they have multiple ways of demonstrating their knowledge increases students’ feelings of competence and control, and knowing their work will be judged by others creates feelings of relatedness. Like all applications of technology, however, these types of assessments create challenges, including funding and teacher investment, especially from those teachers who are not comfortable using technology themselves. But if schools want to engage the newest generations of students—those who have used iPads since preschool and live connected to the internet—then educators must adapt.

Article in The Atlantic about "how to motivate studnets" Report about Digital Portfolios