Portfolio Assessment of Gifted Students

Abstract

Assessment is defined as the process ol gathering and organizing information about student work from a variety ol sources for the purpose ot making sound educational decisions. According to the National Academies, assessment rests on three connected and interrelated pillars: cognition, observation, and interpretation (Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001). The first pillar, cognition, focuses on the knowledge and competence that a student has in a particular domain. The domain is defined by standards-based curriculum that is implemented across contexts. What does the student know and how is that knowledge represented? The second pillar involves the teacher's ability to create tasks and situations that provide observation opportunities in the classroom and in other settings for the students to exhibit their knowledge and competence. In what ways and in what contexts do the students demonstrate their understanding? Third, the teacher and/or the students make interpretations based upon observations of the performance evidence and review ol the products. What is the quality ol the work and to what degree have the students met the standards? Moreover, the Academies emphasize the importance ol involving the student in the assessment process: "Students learn more it instruction and assessment are integrally related. In the classroom, provid 228ing students with information about particular qualities oi their work and about what they can do to improve is crucial for maximizing learning" (Pellegrino et al., 2001, p. 8).