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A Richer Picture of Student Performance

Digital Portfolio, Chapter 6

Eastern High School
Middletown, Kentucky

Contents

- About the School
- The Process: Issues in Implementation
    - Vision
    - Assessment
    - Technology
    - Logistics
    - Culture
- The Products: Sample Digital Portfolios
- Further Information
- Supplemental Material
    - Kentucky New Learning Goals and Valued Outcomes, 1991
    - Kentucky Learning Goals and Academic Expectations, 1994
    - Sample Entry Slip

About the School

Eastern High School is a comprehensive high school in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The Jefferson County Public Schools district is among the 20 largest districts in the United States, serving the city of Louisville and the surrounding suburbs. Eastern is one of 23 high schools in the district.

Students entering ninth grade can choose to enroll in any of the public schools in Jefferson County. This means that, from year to year, the enrollment at Eastern is driven, at least in part, by market demand. In recent years, Eastern's enrollment has gone from about 1250 to about 1600 students. Eastern is Jefferson County's School for Computer Arts and Sciences.

Eastern's involvement in school reform in the 1990's has largely been driven by two initiatives: the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1991 and the Coalition of Essential Schools, which Eastern joined in 1990. Eastern had previously established a reputation for a program called "MBS," for Math, Business, and Science. This program provided a focused curriculum, emphasizing the skills needed in business, engineering, computer technology, and other mathematics and science based fields. The school renamed itself in 1995 as "The School of Computer Arts and Sciences," to better acknowledge the use of technology throughout the school's curriculum, and shortly thereafter, was designated as a district magnet under that name.

The passage of KERA put Kentucky's schools directly in the political spotlight. The legislation promised a rethinking of many areas of traditional educational practice, and has been watched carefully by educational observers. Among the features of KERA was the establishment of a new set of state standards and a new assessment system to determine if schools were meeting those standards. The new assessment system included both standardized tests and portfolio assessments. The portfolios were first established in writing and mathematics. Further portfolio assessments were scheduled to be developed for social studies and science classes, but since then, the state has focused energy on improving the process for assessing writing and mathematics, and has done some pilot experiments with school-wide portfolios that ask for entries from all disciplines.

Eastern was one of five Coalition schools involved in the original IBM-funded Exhibitions Project (1990-1993). Through that effort, Eastern received a grant of IBM equipment to help connect its faculty. The MBS program and other initiatives had made Eastern into a technology-rich environment for students; however, few faculty beyond those connected to the MBS project had access to computers during the school day. The IBM grant allowed the school to install a local-area network and connect its faculty at a ratio of one computer for about every two teachers. The school then established an internal electronic mail system for the faculty, which has allowed the 100+ person teaching staff to communicate more effectively. (See the section on Who are the primary users? for more details.)

The IBM grant also provided an opportunity for Eastern to learn more about the work at other schools in the Coalition. Eastern was influenced by programs at two other schools in particular:

• Sullivan High School in Chicago is a long-standing member of the Paideia Program, which focuses on Socratic and text-based seminars. Students at Sullivan on a weekly basis in the humanities classes, and (at least) on a monthly basis in other classes, read, examine, and write about primary texts. To graduate from Sullivan, students participate in a final seminar where a group of 12 or so students with 2 teachers discuss three or four texts for ninety minutes. One such senior seminar used Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, the Declaration of Independence, and an excerpt from Nietchze's Beyond Good and Evil as the texts.
• Walbrook High School in Baltimore, one of the earliest members of the Coalition, asks all of its students, to create a final senior exhibition as a requirement for graduation. This exhibition can focus on a topic of the student's choosing, often related to current events. Time to prepare for the exhibition is built into each senior's schedule, and during that time, students can get advice from a number of teachers.

(Further descriptions of both of these projects can be found in Graduation by Exhibition: Assessing Genuine Achievement, by Joseph P. McDonald, Eileen Barton, Marian Finney, Dorothy Turner and Sid Smith, published by ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1993.)

Between 1991 and 1994, Eastern implemented a number of structures, including weekly seminars with all students, mandatory final exhibitions for all students, and experiments with interdisciplinary curriculum.

Digital Portfolios were similarly introduced to the school in this spirit of innovation. When the staff at Eastern, led by Scott Horan, the school's lead technology teacher, and James Sexton, the school's principal, saw an initial presentation of Digital Portfolios, they saw it as an opportunity to handle some of the dilemmas inherent in portfolio assessment (such as the storage of thousands of pieces of student work), and an opportunity to use technology in new and innovative ways. Digital Portfolios are another way that the school can distinguish itself in the eyes of its students, parents, and district and state administration.

Eastern was the first school in this project to experiment with Digital Portfolios. A group of about a dozen students used a first prototype written in IBM/EduQuest's Linkway Live in the spring of 1993. While this experiment showed that students could create interesting multimedia demonstrations of their work, it also showed areas where the Digital Portfolio software could be improved.

Students began working with a new version of the software, written using Asymetrix Toolbook, in the 1993-94 school year. Given more time (most of the school year, as opposed to the first group, which put together their digital portfolios in a few weeks), and more direction, the second group of students were able to show a better picture of their interests. During the following two school years, Mr. Horan created a Digital Portfolio staff -- an equivalent to the yearbook or newspaper staff, these students were responsible for helping the rest of the student population develop their individual portfolios. Digital Portfolios have been voluntary at the school; in the 1995-96 school year, the majority of students began putting some work into digital portfolios, and about 150 students "completed" a portfolio, continuing to work on their portfolios throughout the year.

Eastern's work with Digital Portfolios has been heavily student-driven. The student Digital Portfolio staff, under Mr. Horan's direction, handles most of the technology and logistics issues, and individual students select the pieces to enter into the portfolio. The Digital Portfolios do not exactly parallel the Kentucky writing and math portfolios; the Digital Portfolios can contain entries from any subject or extracurricular activity. The students who complete their Digital Portfolios or are on the Digital Portfolio staff see the tool as a way of displaying information about them that is important for some other reader, be it a peer, a parent, or an outsider, such as a college admissions officer.

The school's faculty and other areas of the school's work, however, has also influenced activity at Eastern. The KERA assessments showed a decline in the school's scores in writing. As part of its concerted effort to reverse that trend, the school required that all English classes spend at least one period per week in a computer lab where students could work on their writing. As a result, students had more work already in digital form that could be entered into the portfolios. This arrangement also made it easier for members of the Digital Portfolio staff to find specific times to work with classes of students in the school.

KERA has both accelerated and impeded innovations at Eastern. Knowing that the state was moving ahead with ideas such as portfolio assessment allowed the school to move forward, and stake a leadership position within the region, for its work on using technology to create portfolios. The state's and county's move towards a comprehensive computer network to link all of the schools has encouraged Eastern and its faculty and students to examine the role of technology in their work. However, the school has debated how to move ahead with using digital portfolios outside of the state-mandated areas, and for at least some faculty, there is understandable reluctance to create a school-wide portfolio system that might not connect to the state's plans. Similarly, state mandates about technology and procedures for certifying individuals to wire the school has created obstacles to completing the technology plan.

Eastern continues to pursue the work with Digital Portfolios, providing demonstrations of its work to visitors and providing professional development to other area schools. There are continuing innovations and strategies for using technology in MBS classes to support other activities in the school and the community. While the Digital Portfolio may not be used very much as an assessment tool at Eastern, it has been the starting point for a number of conversations and continuing activities at the school.

The Process: Issues in Implementation

Vision

A school's vision helps students, parents, and faculty to understand what is expected of students.

What should a student know and be able to do?

The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) established a new statewide assessment system for determining if students know and are able to do what is expected at different grade levels. At the end of 1991, the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education adopted a set of "Learning Goals and Valued Outcomes" that set the standards for what students should achieve in schools.

This document had 75 outcomes, organized into six learning goals:

• Students apply basic communication and math skills in situations similar to what the will experience in life.
• Students apply core concepts and principles from science, mathematics, social studies, arts and humanities, practical living studies, and vocational studies.
• Students demonstrate self-sufficiency
• Students demonstrate responsible group membership.
• Students apply thinking and problem solving.
• Students integrate knowledge.

(For a complete list of the 75 outcomes, click here. The state revised the document in the spring of 1994, renaming it "Kentucky's Learning Goals and Academic Expectations.")

The 75 outcomes were established not just as a vision statement but as "a set of milestones to be incorporated into classroom instruction and curriculum and measured by the assessment system" (Kentucky Department of Education, 1994). The school took this to mean that the outcomes were to be a part of what went on in the classroom, as well as what was tested by the state.

The faculty at Eastern had varied reactions to the state's goals. Some saw it as an opportunity to re-assess their own curriculum and standards; others basically chose to ignore it, figuring they could simply continue what they had been doing before. Not surprisingly, the English and mathematics departments (since the state simultaneously introduced writing and math portfolio assessments) felt the most direct impact from the state outcomes.

In some ways, the development of the Digital Portfolio system brought the vision statement to life for the school. Because the portfolio had been organized around those goals, students, especially in the first two years, sometimes had to ask teachers which goals were demonstrated by a particular project. In bits and pieces, this engaged some of the students and faculty into a conversation of what the various outcomes meant, and how they could be demonstrated. For the most part, though, the vision felt like something handed down to the school from the state rather than something owned by the school itself.

Assessment

The school's assessment system lets students learn about their progress towards fulfilling the vision.

How can students demonstrate the vision?

Exhibiting the outcomes defined in the Kentucky Education Reform Act has been a combination of state mandates and individual teacher initiative. In writing and mathematics, students submit a portfolio of seven entries. In writing, this is described as follows:

Contents of Grade 12 Portfolio (1992-93)
Any of the following portfolio entries may come from subject areas other than English / Language Arts, but a minimum of two pieces of writing must come from other content areas.

1. Table of Contents: Specify the title of each entry, the content area for which the piece was written, and the page number in the portfolio.

2. One personal narrative.

3. One short story, poem, or play/script.

4.-6. Three pieces of writing, each of which will achieve any one or more of the following purposes:

• a. predict an outcome
• b. defend a position
• c. solve a problem
• d. analyze or evaluate a situation, person, place, or thing
• e. explain a process or concept
• f. draw a conclusion
• g. create a model

7. Letter to the Reviewer: A letter written by the student analyzing himself/herself as a writer and reflecting on the pieces in the portfolio.

(Source: The Teacher's Handbook to the Kentucky Writing Portfolio)

In mathematics, high school students are also asked to complete portfolios in grades 9, 10, and 11.

Contents of High School Mathematics Portfolio

A complete [Mathematics] Portfolio will include ...

• a completed table of contents.
• a letter to the reviewer written by the student that describes her / his portfolio.
• 5-7 best entries showing a breadth of entries (types, tools, and core concepts). Each entry must include the original question, task, or problem posed; a title; date; and the student's name. Entries must be in the same order as listed in the Table of Contents and must be numbered accordingly. If an entry is in the category of photographs, audiotapes, videotapes, and computer disks, then the entry must be accompanied by a brief paragraph describing the activity and its rationale.

NOTE: Entries may include responses to teacher-generated tasks, prompts from mathematical publications, Department of Education sample tasks, and Council on School Performance Standards portfolio tasks.

Portfolio Entry "types" can include Writing, Investigations/Discovery, Application, Interdisciplinary, Non-Routine Problems, and Projects. "Tools" can include the use of calculators, computer and other technology, manipulatives, or other tools. Entries in the portfolio may either be individual or group projects, although there should be no more than one entry of this type unless the entry is an optional piece.

(Source: The Teacher's Handbook to the Kentucky Mathematics Portfolio)

Individual schools are responsible for creating tasks and exhibitions that help students complete their portfolios. At Eastern, this has meant the English and mathematics departments, with some help from other quarters, designing the assignments and exhibitions that students can complete as portfolio entries. In the English department, teachers have made a concerted effort to spend more class time on writing skills; in the mathematics department, teachers have created entirely new projects in the curriculum.

Not surprisingly, when students thought about the entries that they wanted to put into their digital portfolio, they often immediately thought of the work that they were doing for their writing or mathematics portfolios, or entries from other classes that were specifically designed for inclusion in the portfolio. (For example, students were asked to write about why they thought a digital portfolio would be a useful thing to have, and what they hoped to be able to use the portfolio for; this writing, done early in the year, was specifically suggested as an entry for the digital portfolio.) The school has made the suggestion that each student should be able to submit one piece from each course they are taking each semester. So, if a student was taking five courses, she would have ten pieces in her portfolio by the end of the year.

When students talked about their school work, though, they noted that each class was different. In talking with one group of students, a number of them said "we don't have any work from so-and-so's class." When asked what that meant, the students said that all they did in those classes were worksheets or drills -- nothing that they would want to put into a portfolio. Students had an inherent sense that the entries in a portfolio should have some substance, and be entries that they would be proud to show to others. They also sensed that not all teachers gave them the opportunity to create the kind of work that they would want to see in the portfolio. On the other hand, they were very animated in describing projects and exhibitions that they did for other teachers, and could describe what doing that work helped them to learn. These projects were in many different classes, ranging from math to foreign language; what the projects had in common were that they took some real effort, and offered a chance to demonstrate something of importance.

Why do we collect student work?

Teachers and students at Eastern would answer this question differently, depending on what student work was being discussed. In the cases of the writing and math portfolios, the school collects student work because it has to; the Kentucky Education Reform Act's mandate requires portfolios in those disciplines for certain grade levels. In the case of the digital portfolios, however, the collection of student work is strictly voluntary. Students can see these portfolios as being useful to different audiences, such as college admissions officers or future employers; a few also saw it as an opportunity to reflect on their own work.

There has been some talk at the school about making digital portfolios mandatory for graduation. The school has not yet laid out what that might mean, but there is a sense that students should be able to show a variety of skills and knowledge in all of the major disciplines before graduating and that the digital portfolio would be a vehicle for showing that. Also, since the school has been designated as the county's school for Computer Arts and Sciences, the digital portfolio would also show a student's technological skills.

What audiences are most important to us?

Digital Portfolios have been a voluntary effort at Eastern; that is, students can choose to put together such a portfolio if they want. The Digital Portfolio staff (a group of students who had the responsibility of helping other students put together digital portfolios) began the year by "marketing" the digital portfolio concept to students throughout the school. At the National School Boards Association conference in October, 1996, Ashley Davidson, a student member of the Digital Portfolio staff, described the two phases of the marketing.

One phase was addressing the students. Ashley said that they "liked the idea of showing their talents" and "were really into the idea of sending [portfolios] to colleges." (In other conversations with students, it was clear that college admissions is a critical concern for many students; also, when asked who should see a portfolio, one student spoke for the group and said, "whoever the student wants to see it.") The portfolio, for the students who completed them, was a method of showing their skills and abilities to some external reader (as opposed to a tool used specifically for assessment within the school).

The other phase meant addressing the teachers. In her presentation, Ashley mentioned that teachers "were concerned that the Digital Portfolio staff would be getting in the way," since they would be coming to other classes to help students digitize work. The staff responded that "we were there to help," and let the teachers know that "students would benefit from the idea" of working on the portfolio. Throughout the project, a core group of about a dozen teachers has remained interested and involved in the work; this has meant, for example, providing the kinds of activities and exhibitions in class that lead to the kind of work that students would want to have in their portfolios. However, the majority of the faculty are still not quite sure how the digital portfolios can be useful to them. Many are inclined to see the digital portfolios as a good thing generally, but aren't sure how to connect it to their work.

The school also pays attention to other audiences. Jefferson County's schools compete with one another for students, resources, and attention from the district. All of the schools want to have a distinguishing feature, and Eastern has placed great emphasis on technology. While Eastern was proud of the fact that it was selected as the first school to be involved in this national project on digital portfolios, it was perhaps even more conscious of the fact that it was the first in Jefferson County.

The school has used digital portfolios to good effect to help promote the work at Eastern. The project has fit in well with Principal James Sexton's outreach to the business community, in that local business leaders can see, first hand, what students are capable of doing. Each year, Mr. Horan hosts a session at the school where visitors from local businesses (along with visitors from colleges, schools, and the Jefferson County district office and school board) can see what this year's students have done with digital portfolios. These sessions are well attended, and offer the students an opportunity to describe their work directly. In many ways, the students impress the visitors with their presentation skills as well as with their ability to show the technology. The school has a steady flow of visitors, interested in the applications of technology; a number of schools in Kentucky and Indiana have followed up those visits by asking Mr. Horan and his students to demonstrate their work, and to provide some guidance in beginning their own work with digital portfolios.

The school would like to reach other audiences, particularly parents, and to have greater acceptance of the portfolios by audiences such as college admissions officers. As the school, and the state, move towards implementing a wide-area network where digital portfolios can be transmitted via an intranet or the Internet, it will be easier to at least send information to those audiences.

How do we know what's good?

As a way of motivating students, Mr. Horan established a prize for the "best" digital portfolio. The prize: a computer, built by other students at the school.

When researchers from the project asked the students which portfolios were good, the digital portfolio staff quickly identified a few. What made these better? The students noted three components:

effort. Students know who had put a great deal of time into their portfolios, going over and above the expectations of the project. Students gave high praise to projects that "showed a lot of effort" or that someone "put a lot of time into."

quantity. Many students who began the digital portfolio project added three to five entries to their portfolios. Members of the Digital Portfolio staff noticed when a student had significantly more entries in their portfolios, or a number of different components for one entry. (Students took notice of one portfolio where a student had scanned half a dozen photographs from his swimming competitions.)

use of different media. Using graphics, audio, and video made a portfolio "more interesting," according to the students.

Some students noted that the quality of a portfolio depended on the type of work that they were asked to do in their classes. When teachers did not provide them with an opportunity to present their abilities in an interesting way, or to show their skills in any way beyond worksheets, students felt that they had nothing to enter into the portfolio. Thus, students were very aware of how they were going to present themselves and their work, and looked for the opportunities to show their skills in a way that others would find engaging.

Technology

Digital Portfolios are obviously dependent on the use of technology, but a school's effective use of technology goes beyond the use of equipment.

What hardware, software, and networking will we need?

Eastern High School provides a technology-rich environment for both students and teachers. The school has nine computer labs, most with 25 or more machines. Except for one lab of Macintoshes and one of Amigas, the school is predominantly equipped with IBM and compatible computers. In addition, the library contains 13 stations for students to do research on CD-ROM's and use an electronic card catalog.

From an earlier grant from IBM, Eastern received a block of computers that allowed the school to link the faculty via electronic mail. The school received about one computer for every two teachers. The computers were distributed throughout the building, so that most teachers were never more than one room away from a computer where they could check their mail. (To the degree possible, teachers were paired so that at least one person in the pair was reasonably comfortable with the technology, and could help the other log on, check mail, and print.)

Most of the labs in the school are reserved by individual teachers for their classes. In 1995-96, the school arranged the lab schedules so that each English class could have access to a computer for word processing for at least one period per week.

The Digital Portfolio staff met for class each day in one of the labs (Room 1). Because the networking of the school was not yet complete, students during the 1995-96 school year kept their portfolios on hard disks in the Room 1 Lab. The student portfolios were arranged by English class; thus, if a student wanted to find a her portfolio, she would go to the machine designated for her English teacher's classes, and the directory for her particular English class. The lab had about 20 stations for entering digital portfolios, and an additional group of machines for different multimedia inputs (one machine was designated for entering video and audio; another two machines were connected to scanners).

Eastern received, as part of the grant for working on digital portfolios, 44 IBM PC 350 computers, with 486 DX2-50 processors, 8 megabytes of RAM, and 270 megabyte hard drives. The school used other machines in the school for its multimedia input stations; the Digital Portfolio lab has one scanner, and two machines with audio/video cards. The school also received an IBM PC 350 server (model 8640 0P0), with 32 megabytes of RAM, a Pentium processor, and two 2-gigabyte hard drives. The machines ran on an Ethernet network, using Novell Netware software.

Who are the primary users of the equipment?

From the beginning, the intention of the project was to allow teachers to have complete access to student portfolios from their rooms, and for students to be able to enter or review their portfolios from just about any machine in the school. Because the wiring of the school was not completed, however, until after the project ended, the digital portfolios were pretty much limited to a single lab. The lab was well-equipped, and designed well for student input and interaction; unfortunately, it was not in a very accessible location (the school is shaped like a three-floor "E", and the lab was on one end of the legs on the first floor), meaning that most students and teachers were not likely to just wander by.

The Digital Portfolio team was primarily responsible for not only their own digital portfolios, but the portfolios created by other students. In the first years of the work at Eastern, students on the Digital Portfolio team ended up entering the work created by students in the rest of the school. By 1995-96, students generally handed disks to members of the team -- but even then, members of the team found themselves digitizing other students' work.

In 1996-97, two changes should change the dynamics. First, the network is now complete, so teachers can now gain access to the digital portfolios from either their rooms or from a nearby room. Second, even though the first change will make digital portfolios more accessible in the building, the students working on the digital portfolios will be more available in the library, located in the middle of the school's main hallway. The combination of changes should make digital portfolios more visible to students and to teachers.

Who will support the system?

The creation of 1600+ digital portfolios requires a distribution of expertise. Mr. Horan, the school's lead technology teacher, offers a number of classes where students have opportunities to help with the school's technology needs. Freshmen first learn about providing support through an introductory class in the Math-Business-Science-Technology curriculum. Students in that class are assigned roles, ranging from videotaping events to creating multimedia presentations. The students do this work for different clients in the school; thus, in class, they learn skills, and outside of class, have a chance to exhibit what they have learned.

The Digital Portfolio team is a specialized group of students, designed to help with all of the aspects of putting digital portfolios together. As mentioned elsewhere, this staff is analogous to a newspaper or yearbook staff. The students get a course credit for their work on Digital Portfolios. The details of their support is seen in the section on logistics. It's worth noting, though, that members of the Digital Portfolio team became known for their technical expertise. A few students on the team mentioned that when they were in a computer lab, it was sometimes difficult to get their own work done, because other students would come to them with technical questions. The staff felt good that other students would want to use their expertise, but also wanted to set up times when they were "on duty," and others when they were not.

Mr. Horan, like many of his computer coordinator counterparts in schools across the country, is often the point person for just about every computer problem in the school (and for any number of issues faculty or administrators have with their personal computers). He offers professional development opportunities when he can, but with a full teaching load, and responsibilities for maintaining and upgrading the system, technical support has to fall on the students. The school has a number of teachers who are very familiar with using technology, and they provide informal support as well. In reality, though, most computer projects, like the Digital Portfolio, are seen as a part of Mr. Horan's job. Centralizing a project with a single individual is good in that it allows a point person to develop a strategy, but has the downside of allowing many on the faculty to say, "that's Scott's project," and not feel affected by the technology innovations. Mr. Horan has spent time cultivating colleagues to help support the idea of digital portfolios (if not the technical support), and has had the support of the school's administration to continue this work. Greater staff acceptance, though, of the digital portfolio, will depend on others in the school becoming more directly involved with the work, so that

Logistics

The creation of a school-wide digital portfolio requires that a school consider its use of time and space.

When will information be digitized? Who will do it?

Eastern's system for handling digital portfolios relies on students. A Digital Portfolio staff, led by computer teacher Scott Horan, serves a function similar to the school's yearbook staff -- but instead of putting together the yearbook, the Digital Portfolio staff helps students put together multimedia presentations.

The Digital Portfolio staff, during 1995-96, had about 28 students. These students were part of a class led by Mr. Horan, so like their newspaper and yearbook counterparts, the Digital Portfolio staff received a course credit for their work.

During class, the students on the staff learned how to use the Digital Portfolio software, and the skills required to digitize information. This included scanning graphics and digitizing audio and video.

The students on the staff were then put in pairs, and each pair was assigned three to four English classes (containing 90 to 110 students). At Eastern, every student is enrolled in an English class, and by dividing the school that way, the staff could be assured of reaching every student. In addition, each English class spends one day a week in a computer lab, word processing and working on writing skills. This further guaranteed that the students on the DP staff would be able to work with students who had already digitized part of their work.

The staff began the year by explaining to their classes what digital portfolios were, and how they could be created. Then, they worked with the classes to help the students digitize their work.

The DP staff students created a form, which allowed them to collect information efficiently. Students were expected to hand staff members a disk containing their work, and a completed form. The form told the staff member what files on the disk were relevant, and which goals were demonstrated by this particular entry. The DP staff then took the information from the student, and added the files to the appropriate place in the student's digital portfolio.

In some cases, students asked to have some multimedia component added to their portfolios (though most of the students who asked were other members of the DP staff). The DP staff members would then digitize the graphics, audio, or video, and add that component to the portfolio. While it was expected that most students would word process their own documents, it was also expected that most students would rely on the DP staff to digitize documents created in other media.

Essentially, then, the DP staff assembled each student's portfolio. Part of this was because the school's networking arrived after the project ended, and thus, portfolios could not be shared on a school-wide network. Another component, though, is that most students, outside of the DP staff, had no personal stake in their portfolios. A few students outside of the staff went down to the lab where the portfolios were stored, and worked on the portfolios themselves. Most students, however, rarely, if ever, took the time to look at their portfolios. It required a great deal of self-motivation to become involved with the Digital Portfolio work.

Who will select the work?

The Digital Portfolios are created by the students, and are a representation of their particular skills and abilities. Technically, students are supposed to choose at least one entry from each of their courses during each semester. However, that was not typically the case.

Students selected the work that they felt best represented some aspect of themselves. Some students focused particularly on extracurricular activities; others had a number of entries that demonstrated one particular area of the curriculum.

Students did not have much guidance in selecting the entries, but they generally recognized the kinds of work that they would want to see in their digital portfolios. They knew which teachers would provide work that would allow them to exhibit skills, and which just assigned what they called "busy work." Students knew that worksheets would not provide much information to a reader, even if that reader hadn't been defined. When asked, students regularly said that they wanted to show the work that made them proud, or at least demonstrated something that they thought others would find important.

Who will reflect on the work?

As a school, Eastern does not have very many mechanisms in place for reflecting on student work. The portfolios mandated by the state have helped the school reflect further on student's mathematical and writing abilities, and some approaches to writing across the curriculum have brought many more teachers to the table to examine student abilities.

A number of individual teachers at the school use the state portfolios to help consider how a student is doing in that teacher's subject area. There is promise that the Digital Portfolios could be helpful to individual students in determining their strengths and weaknesses, and that may emerge in some of the school's structural attempts to get to know a small group of students well, such as the "seminar" groups of 15 or so students that meet with a faculty member once a week. At the moment, though, students primarily have to rely on themselves to reflect on the work in the Digital Portfolio.

Culture

For digital portfolios to be taken seriously as a school-wide e ndeavor, the school's culture needs to allow for regular conversation about student work and about the school's standards.

Is the school used to discussing student work?

Most of the discussion about student work at Eastern has happened in departments, particularly as a result of Kentucky's mandated portfolios, or through the school's work with the Coalition of Essential Schools. A number of teachers participated in professional development activities which focused on examining student work in portfolios (Kentucky has relied on the state's teachers to assess portfolios from other schools) or on leading discussions in text-based seminars (the school has monthly blocks of time where all of the members of the faculty lead seminars with a group of 15 or so students). In addition, faculty who work on the Senior Exhibitions (where students are asked to prepare a paper and an oral presentation on a topic of their choosing) have learned to create rubrics and discuss what they have seen and not seen in student demonstrations.

While there has been some work on assessing individual student performances or portfolios, the school hasn't yet systematically approached the idea of using student work to modify instruction. Many faculty do not yet see how digital portfolios can be helpful in instruction. One teacher, at the end of the project, remembered one of the early demonstrations of Digital Portfolios, and how other schools were developing a graduation by exhibition system. He noted that "unless we move towards graduation by exhibition, we're just making up excuses" to entice students to put together Digital Portfolios. The school is considering the idea of making the Digital Portfolio a requirement for graduation; if this happens, the school will be in good shape with its technology and its logistics, and will have the opportunity to further develop its use of assessment, its understanding of a vision for all graduates, and how the school can create a culture where faculty communicate regularly about student work.

Is the school open to tuning standards? With whom?

A number of teachers who participated in the state's professional development activities around assessing portfolios found the experience eye-opening and illuminating. The participants examined student work and used rubrics to determine if portfolios should be designated as "proficient" or given some other score. Teachers noted that this work challenged their assumptions about what students could do, and what was expected of them. It also allowed teachers to hear voices from teachers in other schools in other areas of the state.

Members of Eastern's faculty have also worked to learn from other schools, particularly through connections with the Coalition of Essential Schools. It was one of the participants in a first demonstration of the "Tuning Protocol" (see J. McDonald, et. al., Graduation by Exhibition), where five schools presented their work to each other for critical feedback.

Much of the school's tuning of standards has come in response to the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and the learner expectations defined by the state. As KERA has evolved, some expectations and goals received broader attention than others; in 1994, for example, the state indicated that it would not try to create an assessment to measure the goal that "students shall develop their abilities to become self-sufficient individuals." The school finds itself trying to tune its understanding of the standards against a moving target.

The other area where faculty tune standards are with the larger assessment projects in the school -- namely, the math and writing portfolios and the Senior Exhibitions. The faculty involved with those projects talk with each other and with students about expectations, and what would qualify as "excellent" or "acceptable" work. Should Digital Portfolios become a similar expectation for all students, then the faculty might have an opportunity to look at the collection of standards from the state and elsewhere, and determine how Eastern's standards can be met by all students.

The Products: Sample Digital Portfolios

The opening screen of Eastern's Digital Portfolios introduces the student, showing the student's name and a menu. Clicking on the "Photo" option on the menu displays the student's photo; clicking on the "Information" option displays additional information about the student. Typically, Eastern students have entered a short resume into the "Information" area.

Clicking on the "Menu" option displays the main menu, as shown in Figure 2. This menu corresponds to the set of "Learner Outcomes" established by the Kentucky Department of Education. On the left side are the six goals laid out by the state. The second goal, "Core Concepts," is subdivided into six subject areas, as shown on the right side of the menu.

When the user clicks on the round button next to any of the goals, the software displays the Learner Outcomes that correspond to that goal. To see how a particular student has exhibited a goal, a user can click on the appropriate folder icon, and a menu displaying the performances that meet this goal appears (see Figure 4).

When the students begin work on the portfolio, they have the empty shell shown in Figures 2 and 3. (As one student, Misty Pittman, put it, "it's like an M&M without the chocolate.") This figure shows the performances one student completed for one of the goals. Clicking on any of the performances in this menu then displays the actual student work.

This figure shows one entry in Owen's portfolio.

The student work is shown on the left. One component of the work immediately appears when the entry is displayed, but other components may be available. Underneath the student work window is a menu with the words Text, Graphics, Audio and Video. Clicking on any of those options shows a list of the corresponding components of the entry; choosing the component's name displays it on the screen.

On the right side is a window which helps to put the student work in context. A menu along the bottom shows the different pieces of information that can be displayed:

The Goals is a list of the goals that are demonstrated by this particular entry. The goals correspond to the learner outcomes from the main menu.

The Assignment describes what the student was asked to do.

The Evaluation area contains assessments from the teachers, or others, about the work. When you click on Evaluation, a list of people who have already assessed this exhibition is displayed; clicking on any of those names displays that person's assessment of the work.

Assessors can include any reader of the portfolio, including peers, teachers, parents, or outside judges; a reader can click on the Add Evaluation button (dimmed in this figure) to add his or her thoughts to the portfolio.

The menus along the top menu bar allow a student to modify the portfolio. The student can modify the overall portfolio information (name, date, etc.), add, delete, or modify performances in the portfolio, and add or delete different media components to a performance. The software also allows evaluations to be added, edited, or modified; whether that is done by the student or by an evaluator depends on the school. (At Eastern, students were responsible for entering the evaluations given to them by teachers.)

Further Information

Contact
Eastern High School
12400 Old Shelbyville Road
Louisville, KY 40243
502-485-8243
James Sexton, Principal
Scott Horan, Technology Teacher
http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Schools/High/eastern/eastern.html

Publications

Allen, David, "The Tuning Protocol," Studies on Exhibitions, No. 15, Coalition of Essential Schools.**

Cushman, Kathleen, "Technology in the Essential School: Making Change in the Information Age," Horace, January 1994.**

McDonald, J., Barton E.; Finney, M.; Turner, D.; Smith, S.; Graduation by Exhibition: Assessing Genuine Achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1993.

Niguidula, D.; Riconscente, M.; Horan, S.; VanDeCarr, D.; Felt, J.; "Looking at a Richer Picture of Student Achievement," Proceedings of the 1996 National Educational Computing Conference, June 11-13, 1996.

Revenaugh, Mickey, "Assessment: Machine-Gauged," America's Agenda, Fall 1993, pp.32 - 34.

**(These publications may be ordered from the CES National's Web Site)

Supplemental Material

Kentucky New Learning Goals and Valued Outcomes, 1991

Goal 1. Students apply basic communication math skills in situations similar to what they will experience in life.

Accessing Sources of Information and Ideas

• Students use research tools to locate sources of information and ideas relevant to a specific need or problem.

Gathering Information and Ideas

• Students construct meaning from a variety of print materials for a variety of purposes through READING.
• Students construct meaning from messages communicated in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes through OBSERVING.
• Students construct meaning from messages communicated in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes through LISTENING.

Processing Information and Ideas

• Students communicate ideas by QUANTIFYING with whole, rational, real and/or complex numbers.
• Students manipulate information and communicate ideas with a variety of computational algorithms.
• Students organize information and communicate ideas by VISUALIZING space configurations and movements.
• Students gather information and communicate ideas by MEASURING.
• Students organize information and communicate ideas by algebraic and geometric REASONING such as relations, patterns, variables, unknown quantities, deductive and inductive processes.
• Students organize information through development and use of CLASSFICATION rules and classification systems.

Expressing Information, Ideas, and Emotions

• Students communicate ideas and information to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes in a variety of modes through WRITING.
• Students communicate ideas and information to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes in a variety of modes through SPEAKING.
• Students construct meaning and/or communicate ideas and emotions through the VISUAL ARTS.
• Students construct meaning and/or communicate ideas and emotions through MUSIC.
• Students construct meaning from and/or communicate ideas and emotions through MOVEMENT.

Using Electronic Technology

• Students use computers and other ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY to gather, organize, manipulate, and express information and ideas.
  

Goal 2. Students apply core concepts and principles from science, mathematics, social studies, and humanities practical living studies.

Social Studies

• Students recognize the GEOGRAPHIC INTERACTION between people and their surroundings in order to make decisions and take actions that reflect responsibility for the environment.
• Students recognize continuity and change in historical events, conditions, trends, and issues in order to make decisions, for a better future.
• Students observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors to acquire a better understanding of self, others, and HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS.
  

Arts and Humanities

• Students CREATE PRODUCTS AND MAKE PRESENTATIONS that convey concepts and feelings.
• Students ANALYZE their own and others products and performances.
• Students APPRECIATE CREATIVITY and the values of the arts and the humanities. Through their productions and performances or interpretation, students show an understanding of the influence of time, place, personality, and society on the arts and humanities.
• Students recognize differences and commonalities in the human experience through their productions, performances, or interpretations.
• Students complete tasks, make presentations, and create models that demonstrate awareness of the diversity of forms, structures, and concepts across languages and ho they may interrelate.
• Students understand and communicate in a SECOND LANGUAGE.

Practical Living

• Students demonstrate positive INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY LIFE SKILLS.
• Students demonstrate effective decision-making and evaluative CONSUMER SKILLS.
• Students demonstrate skills and self responsibility in understanding, achieving, and maintaining PHYSICAL WELLNESS.
• Students demonstrate positive strategies for achieving and maintaining MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLNESS.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to assess and access health systems, services and resources available in their community which maintain and promote healthy living for its citizens.
• Students perform PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS effectively and efficiently in a variety of settings.
• Students demonstrate knowledge, skills, and values that have lifetime implications for involvement in physical activity.
  

Vocational Studies

• Students demonstrate strategies for selecting CAREER PATH options.
• Students produce and/or make presentations that communicate SCHOOL-TO- WORK/ POST-SECONDARY TRANSITION SKILLS.
• Students demonstrate the ability to complete a POST-SECONDARY OPPORTUNITIES SEARCH.
  

Goal 3. Students demonstrate self-sufficiency.

• Students demonstrate positive growth in SELF-CONCEPT through appropriate tasks or projects.
• Students demonstrate the ability to maintain a. HEALTHY LEFESTYLE.
• Students demonstrate the ability to be ADAPTABLE AND FLEXIBLE though appropriate tasks or projects.
• Students demonstrate the ability to be RESOURCEFUL AND CREATIVE.
• Students demonstrate SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-DISCIPLINE.
• Students demonstrate the ability to make decisions based on ETHICAL VALUES.
• Students demonstrate the ability to LEARN ON ONE'S OWN.
  

Goal 4. Students demonstrate responsible group membership.

• Students effectively use INTERPERSONAL SKILLS.
• Students use productive TEAM MEMBERS SKILLS.
• Students individually demonstrate CONSISTENT, RESPONSIVE, AND CARING BEHAVIOR.
• Students demonstrate the ability to accept the RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SELF AND OTHERS.
• Students demonstrate an understanding of, appreciation for, and sensitivity to a MULTICULTURAL AND WORLD VIEW.
• Students demonstrate an OPEN MIND to alternative perspectives.

Goal 5. Students apply thinking and problem solving.

• Students use CRITICAL THINKING skills in a variety of situations that will be encountered life.
• Students use CREATIVE THINKING skills to develop novel, constructive ideas or products.
• Students create and modify their understanding of a CONCEPT through organizing information.
• Students use a DECISION-MAKING process to make informed decisions among options.
• Students use PROBLEM-SOLVING processes to develop solutions to relatively complex problems.

Goal 6. Students integrate knowledge.

• Students address situations (e.g., topics, problems, decisions, predicts) from multiple perspectives and produce presentations or products that demonstrate a broad understanding. Examples of perspectives include: economic, social, cultural, political, historic, physical, technical, aesthetic, environmental, and personal.
• Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skill interpret new experiences.
• Students expand their understanding of existing knowledge (e.g., topic, problem. situation, product) by making connections with new and unfamiliar knowledge, skills, and experiences.
  

Kentucky Learning Goals and Academic Expectations, 1994

Goal 1. Students are able to use basic communication and mathematics skills for purposes and situations they will encounter throughout their lives.

1.1 Students use reference tools such as directories, almanacs, encyclopedias, and computer reference programs and research tools such as interviews and surveys to find the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve specific problems.

1.2 Students make sense of the variety of the materials they read.

1.3 Students make sense of the various things they observe.

1.4 Students make sense of the various messages to which they listen.

1.5-1.9 Students use mathematical ideas and procedures to communicate, reason, and solve problems.

1.10 Students organize information through development and use of classification rules and systems.

1.11 Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.12 Students speak using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.13 Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with the visual arts.

1.14 Students make sense of ideas and communicate with music.

1.15 Students make sense of and communicate ideas with movement.

1.16 Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize and communicate information and ideas.

Goal 2. Students shall develop their abilities to apply core concepts and principles from mathematics, the sciences, the arts, the humanities, social studies, practical living studies, and vocational studies to what they will encounter throughout their lives.

Science

2.1 Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real life problems.

2.2 Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.

2.3 Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.

2.4 Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristic that might be observed.

2.5 Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.

2.6 Students understand how living and nonliving things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.

Mathematics

2.7 Students understand number concepts and use numbers appropriately and accurately.

2.8 Students understand various mathematical procedures and use them appropriately and accurately.

2.9 Students understand space and dimensionality concepts and use them appropriately and accurately.

2.10 Students understand measurement concepts and use measurements appropriately and accurately.

2.11 Students understand mathematical change concepts and use them appropriately and accurately.

2.12 Students understand mathematical structure concepts including the properties and logic of various mathematical systems.

2.13 Students understand and appropriately use statistics and probability.

Social Studies

2.14 Students understand the democratic principles of justice, equality, responsibility, and freedom and apply them to real life situations.

2.15 Students can accurately describe various forms of government and analyze issues that relate to the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.

2.16 Students observe, analyze, and interpret human behaviors, social groupings, and institutions to better understand people and the relationships among individuals and among groups.

2.17 Students interact effectively and work cooperatively with the many ethnic and cultural groups of our nation and world.

2.18 Students understand economic principles and are able to make economic decisions that have consequences in daily living.

2.19 Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.

2.20 Students understand, analyze and interpret historical events, conditions, trends, and issues to develop historical perspective.

2.21 (incorporated into 2.16)

Arts and Humanities

2.22 Students create works of art and make presentations to convey a pint of view.

2.23 Students analyze their own and others artistic products and performances using accepted standards.

2.24 Students have knowledge of major works of art, music, and literature and appreciate creativity and the contributions of the arts and humanities.

2.25 In the products they make and the performance show that they understand how time, place, and society influence the arts and humanities such as languages, literature and history.

2.26 Through the arts and humanities, students recognize that although people are different, they share some common experiences and attitudes.

2.27 Students recognize and understand the similarities and differences among languages.

2.28 Students understand and communicate in a second language.

Practical Living

2.29 Students demonstrate skills that promote individual well-being and healthy family relationships.

2.30 Students evaluate consumer products and services and make effective consumer decisions.

2.31 Students demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to remain physically healthy and to accept responsibility for their own physical well-being.

2.32 Students demonstrate strategies for becoming and remaining mentally and emotionally healthy.

2.33 Students demonstrate the skills to evaluate and use services and resources available in their community.

2.34 Students perform physical movement skills effectively in a variety of settings.

2.35 Students demonstrate knowledge and skills that promote physical and activity and involvement in physical activity throughout their lives.

Vocational Studies

2.36 Students use strategies for choosing and preparing for a career.

2.37 Students demonstrate skills and work habits that lead to success in future schooling and work.

2.38 Students demonstrate skills such as interviewing, writing resumes, and completing applications that are needed to be accepted into college or other postsecoundary training or to get a job.

Goal 3. Students shall develop their abilities to become self-sufficient individuals.

Goal 4. Students shall develop their abilities to become responsible members of a family, work group, or community, including demonstrating effectives in community service.

*note: Goals 3 and 4 are included in Kentucky statute as learning goals, but they are not included in the states academic assessment program.

Goal 5. Students shall develop their abilities to think and solve problems in school situations and in a variety of situations they will encounter in life.

5.1 Students use critical thinking skills such as analyzing, prioritizing , categorizing, evaluating, and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situations.

5.2 Students use creative thinking skills to develop or invent novel, constructive ideas or products.

5.3 Students organize information to develop or change their understanding of a concept.

5.4 Students use a decision making process tot make informed decisions among options.

5.5 Students use problem-solving processes to develop solutions to relatively complex problems.

Goal 6. Students shall develop their abilities to connect and integrate experiences and new knowledge from all subject matter fields with what they have previously learned and build on past learning experiences to acquire new information through various media sources.

6.1 Students connect knowledge and experiences from different subject areas.

6.2 Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.

6.3 Students expand their understanding of existing knowledge by making connections with new knowledge, skills and experiences.

Entry Slip

The following was completed by each student for each entry for the portfolio.

Name:

Filename:

English Teacher and Period:

Performance Name:

Approximate Date Finished:

Description of Performance:

Assignment Teacher Gave:

KERA Goals (Check One or More of the Following):

[] Communications

Core Concepts:

[] Science

[] Math

[] Social Studies

[] Arts & Humanities

[] Practical Living

[] Vocational Studies

[] Self Sufficiency

[] Group Membership

[] Problem Solving Skills

[] Integrating Knowledge

Is there any media included in this event?

[] Video (Tape included?)

[] Pictures (tape / scan)

[] Sound (tape)

Original material, Copyright 1997.

David Niguidula
Coalition of Essential Schools
Annenberg Institute for School Reform

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