Content area
Abstract
This qualitative study was conducted to investigate the impact of portfolios on 2nd-grade students' self-assessment of their literacy development and the effects of portfolio-based conferences on the self-assessment process. The research gathered data in the natural classroom setting of the two 2nd-grade classrooms where each of the 32 students participated in the same portfolio-based activities. The researcher used observations, interviews, conferences, and document analysis as primary research methods in the year-long study.
At the beginning of the study the students were interviewed individually to determine what impressions they had about their reading and writing abilities and how these abilities are assessed. The students were interviewed again at the conclusion of the study to see how their attitudes had changed. During the study, the students kept working portfolios that included their writing pieces, booklists, and other related items. At three points in the study, the students selected three of their best writing pieces and discussed strengths and weaknesses of the pieces in conferences with the researcher. On two other occasions, the students selected and revised three of their favorite pieces of writing and entered them in their showcase portfolios. In the final month of the study, they chose two writing pieces from their portfolios and wrote evaluations of each. During the final week of the study, the students continued the self-assessment process by writing assessments of themselves as writers and readers.
Results of the study indicate that the portfolio process had a major effect on the students' ability to self-assess their literacy development. Although the students progressed at different rates in their literacy development, they all demonstrated and identified both cognitive and affective changes that occurred over the year. The portfolio process also had a positive impact on the students' perceptions of themselves as readers and writers as they improved their ability to recognize strengths and weaknesses in their reading and writing. Data also indicate that the students improved in setting goals for their literacy development as they advanced from setting broad goals to more specific goals during the year-long study. Generally, the students had positive attitudes toward the portfolio process and expressed interest in continuing the portfolios in future grades.
