One District’s Pathway: Portfolio Assessment Across the Grades

The Croton-Harmon school district in Croton-on-Hudson New York found portfolio assessment to be a useful way to tie together curriculum and instruction across its elementary school, middle school, and high school. The following diagram outlines the projects portrayed in each student’s “digital portfolio”; the categories in bold indicate areas emphasized throughout every level.

The High School Portfolio(grades 9-11)

Skill:
problem solving
Content:
Math/Science/Technology
Skill:
Research
Content:
English/social studies/foreign language
Skill:
Communication
Content:
fine arts/English/foreign language

The Middle School Portfolio(grades 6-8)

content: themes connected to Ernest Boyer commonalties
skills:
problem solving
written expression/communication/take and support a position
research a topic
observation
response to printed text
artistic/kinesthetic performance

The Elementary School Portfolios(grades k-2, 3-5)

Academies
language arts(communication)
math(problem solving)
science
social studies(research)
arts
social
self-assessment