Portfolios: A Requirement for High School Graduation

I found the article, +News+>+Education+--+Students+object+to+requiring+portfolio&expire=&urlID=16030630&fb=Y&url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20051026-9999-6m26swgrad.html&partnerID=621">“Students Object to Requiring Portfolios” written by Chris Moran which appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune on October 26, 2005 to be very interesting. The article explains and presents the opinions about a type of portfolio requirement in California high schools that I had never heard of. It is known as the Senior Portfolio, and the main components are as follows:

- The portfolio is a requirement for graduating high school seniors.
- Portfolios include a reflective essay and a compilation of class room work.
- High school seniors are also given an interview to “make their case for graduation”.
- The Senior Portfolio (and the interview) is required to receive diploma

At the time the article was written, this portfolio requirement had been in use for two years, and it was the district administrators’ of South County answer to standardized tests. The administrators felt that the portfolio requirement could help give them an “in-depth gauge of students’ abilities”. However, students and some parents did not like the requirement, and the students deemed it a race and not a reflection of how much they had learned. In fact, students and parents protested at a school board meeting for the “abolition” of the Senior Portfolio.
I thought the article and the Senior Portfolio were intriguing because I did know that high schools were using portfolios as a graduation determiner like some colleges as George Mason. Furthermore, I thought it was effective that the portfolio requirement spanned across curriculums. Yet, the interview that was tacked on to the portfolio requirement was rather interesting and slightly odd. The fact that students had to, in a way, make a plea to graduate did not set well with me. (Maybe I need more information on that aspect.) I do wonder had these students been taught about formative and writing assessment before being asked to complete this high stakes portfolio requirement. In addition, in the article, a school board trustee was quoted as saying that he questioned the validity of the portfolio requirement as an educational leader.